Related papers: Can plasmoid-mediated reconnection occur in collis…
We investigate favourable circumstances for fast magnetic reconnection in astrophysical plasmas based on recent results by Rogers et al. (2001). Given that a critical magnetic field structure with antiparallel field lines exists, our…
Magnetic reconnection is thought to be a key process in most of solar eruptions. Thanks to high-resolution observations and simulations, the studied scale of reconnection process has become smaller and smaller. Spectroscopic observations…
The dynamics of a plasmoid chain is studied with three dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations. The evolution of the system with and without a uniform guide field, whose strength is 1/3 the asymptotic magnetic field, is investigated. The…
The magnetosphere of a rotating pulsar naturally develops a current sheet beyond the light cylinder (LC). Magnetic reconnection in this current sheet inevitably dissipates a nontrivial fraction of the pulsar spin-down power within a few LC…
In high-Lundquist-number plasmas, reconnection proceeds via onset of tearing, followed by a nonlinear phase during which plasmoids continuously form, merge, and are ejected from the current sheet (CS). This process is understood in fully…
It has been proposed that particles bouncing between magnetized flows converging in a reconnection region can be accelerated by the first order Fermi mechanism. Analytical considerations of this mechanism have shown that the spectral index…
Plasma energization through magnetic reconnection in the magnetically-dominated regime featured by low plasma beta ($\beta = 8 \pi nkT_0/B^2 \ll 1$) and/or high magnetization ($\sigma = B^2/(4 \pi nmc^2) \gg 1$) is important in a series of…
Magnetic reconnection provides the primary source for explosive energy release, plasma heating and particle acceleration in many astrophysical environments. The last years witnessed a revival of interest in the MHD tearing instability as a…
We investigate a role of the Hall-effect in the current sheet evolution and onset of the secondary tearing (plasmoid) instability in the framework of the incompressible resistive Hall-magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). The model under…
Mini-magnetospheres are small ion-scale structures that are well-suited to studying kinetic-scale physics of collisionless space plasmas. Such ion-scale magnetospheres can be found on local regions of the Moon, associated with the lunar…
We analyze particle acceleration in explosive reconnection events in magnetically dominated proton-electron plasmas. Reconnection is driven by large-scale magnetic stresses in interacting current-carrying flux tubes. Our model relies on…
Magnetic reconnection (MR) in collisionless plasma is often attributed to the off-diagonal electron Reynolds stress, which can give rise to a large induction electric field in the reconnection region. However, in magneto-hydro-dynamics…
It has recently been proposed (Loureiro & Boldyrev 2017; Mallet et al. 2017) that the inertial interval in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is terminated at small scales not by a Kolmogorov-like dissipation region, but rather by a new…
A new concept for generation of thrust for space propulsion is introduced. Energetic thrust is generated in the form of plasmoids (confined plasma in closed magnetic loops) when magnetic helicity (linked magnetic field lines) is injected…
Astrophysical fluids are generically turbulent, which means that frozen-in magnetic fields are, at least, weakly stochastic. Therefore realistic studies of astrophysical magnetic reconnection should include the effects of stochastic…
The formation of plasmoid chains is explored for the first time within the context of the Taylor problem, in which magnetic reconnection is driven by a small amplitude boundary perturbation in a tearing-stable slab plasma equilibrium.…
Energy conversion via reconnecting current sheets is common in space and astrophysical plasmas. Frequently, current sheets disrupt at multiple reconnection sites, leading to the formation of plasmoid structures between sites, which might…
We point out that a conventional construction placed upon observations of accreting black holes, in which their nonthermal X-ray spectra are produced by inverse comptonization in a coronal plasma, suggests that the plasma is marginally…
Magnetic reconnection plays a crucial role in violent energy conversion occurring in the environments of high electrical conductivity, such as the solar atmosphere, magnetosphere, and fusion devices. We focus on the morphological features…
Turbulence is ubiquitous in astrophysics. It radically changes many astrophysical phenomena, in particular, the propagation and acceleration of cosmic rays. We present the modern understanding of compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)…