Related papers: Thin current sheet formation: comparison between E…
In models of fast magnetic reconnection, flux transfer occurs within a small portion of a current sheet triggering stored magnetic energy to be thermalized by shocks. When the initial current sheet separates magnetic fields which are not…
The topology of the coronal magnetic field produces a strong impact on the properties of the solar corona and presumably on the origin of the slow solar wind. To advance our understanding of this impact, we revisit the concept of so-called…
Strong gradients in plasma flows play a major role in space and astrophysical plasmas. A typical situation is that a static plasma equilibrium is surrounded by a plasma flow, which can lead to strong plasma flow gradients at the…
From pulsar scintillations we infer the presence of sheet-like structures in the ISM; it has been suggested that these are current sheets. Current sheets probably play an important role in heating the solar corona, and there is evidence for…
Context. The recent discovery of much greater magnetic flux cancellation taking place at the photosphere than previously realised has led us in our previous works to suggest magnetic reconnection driven by flux cancellation as the cause of…
Magnetic reconnection in current sheets converts magnetic energy into particle energy. The process may play an important role in the acceleration and heating of the solar wind close to the Sun. Observations from Parker Solar Probe provide a…
The slow solar wind exhibits strong variability on timescales from minutes to days, likely related to magnetic reconnection processes in the extended solar corona. Higginson2017b presented a numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulation which…
We investigate the onset of 2D time-dependent magnetic reconnection that is triggered using an external velocity driver located away from, and perpendicular to, an equilibrium Harris current sheet. Previous studies have typically utilised…
We analyze a series of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection in a model solar corona to study the effect of the guide field component on quasi-steady state interchange reconnection in a…
Recently, magnetic reconnection, where a relativistically hot plasma is confined by a strong magnetic field, has received great attention in relation to astrophysical objects (e.g., pulsar magnetosphere and magnetar). However, reconnection…
The magnetospheric substorm, which plays a crucial role in flux and energy transport across Earth's magnetosphere, features the formation of a thin, elongated current sheet in the magnetotail during its growth phase. This phase is…
We present a model for separator reconnection due to an isolated reconnection process. Separator reconnection is a process which occurs in the neighbourhood of a distinguished field line (the separator) connecting two null points of a…
We investigate electron acceleration resulting from 3D magnetic reconnection between an emerging, twisted magnetic flux rope and a pre-existing weak, open magnetic field. We first follow the rise of an unstable, twisted flux tube with a…
Coronal rain, observed in 3D spine-fan magnetic configurations, results from thermal instability in the solar corona, where runaway in-situ cooling causes plasma to condense and drain along the magnetic lines. The reconnection of the…
Current sheets are spatially localized almost-1D structures with intense plasma currents. They play a key role in storing the magnetic field energy and they separate different plasma populations in planetary magnetospheres, the solar wind,…
Magnetic neutral points, where the magnitude of the magnetic field vanishes locally, are potential locations for energy conversion in the solar corona. The fact that the magnetic field is identically zero at these points suggests that for…
Turbulent flows in the solar wind, large scale current sheets, multiple current sheets, and shock waves lead to the formation of environments in which a dense network of current sheets is established and sustains "turbulent reconnection".…
Context. Spacecraft observations early revealed frequent multiple proton populations in the solar wind. Decades of research on their origin have focused on processes such as magnetic reconnection in the low corona and wave-particle…
Magnetic reconnection occurring in collisionless environments is a multi-scale process involving both ion and electron kinetic processes. Because of their small mass, the electron scales are difficult to resolve in numerical and satellite…
We describe magnetic reconnection experiments using a new, pulsed-power driven experimental platform in which the inflows are super-sonic but sub-Alfv\'enic.The intrinsically magnetised plasma flows are long lasting, producing a…