Related papers: Line-Tied Flux Rope Relaxation and Reconnection: A…
Magnetic field embedded in a perfectly conducting fluid preserves its topology for all time. Although ionized astrophysical objects, like stars and galactic disks, are almost perfectly conducting, they show indications of changes in…
In a wide variety of natural and laboratory magnetized plasmas, filaments appear as a result of interchange instability. These convective structures substantially enhance transport in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field.…
We present a new model of magnetic reconnection in the presence of turbulence, applicable when the magnetic helicity is non-zero. The new model differs from the Lazarian-Vishniac turbulent reconnection theory by emphasizing the role of…
Fast reconnection in magnetically dominated plasmas is widely invoked in models of dissipation in pulsar winds, gamma-ray flares in the Crab nebula, and to explain the radio nanoshots of pulsars. When current sheets evolve reaching a…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that converts magnetic energy into bulk flow energy, thermal energy, and nonthermal particle acceleration. Despite its importance, the statistical properties of the turbulent…
Magnetic reconnection, a plasma process converting magnetic energy to particle kinetic energy, is often invoked to explain magnetic energy releases powering high-energy flares in astrophysical sources including pulsar wind nebulae and black…
We describe a versatile pulsed-power driven platform for magnetic reconnection experiments, based on exploding wire arrays driven in parallel [Suttle, L. G. et al. PRL, 116, 225001]. This platform produces inherently magnetised plasma flows…
The kinetic features of secondary magnetic reconnection in a single flux rope undergoing internal kink instability are studied by means of three-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations. Several signatures of secondary magnetic reconnection…
We describe a new model for the study of weakly-collisional, magnetized plasmas derived from exploiting the separation of the dynamics parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. This unique system of equations retains the particle…
The process of magnetic reconnection when studied in Nature or when modeled in 3D simulations differs in one key way from the standard 2D paradigmatic cartoon: it is accompanied by much fluctuations in the electromagnetic fields and plasma…
The fluid-scale evolution of relativistic magnetic reconnection is investigated by using two-fluid and magnetofluid simulation models. Relativistic two-fluid simulations demonstrate the meso-scale evolution beyond the kinetic scales, and…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in a laboratory, magnetospheric, solar and astrophysical plasma, whereby magnetic energy is converted into heat, bulk kinetic energy and fast particle energy. Its nature in two dimensions is…
Reconnection and turbulence are two of the most commonly observed dynamical processes in plasmas, but their relationship is still not fully understood. Using 2.5D kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of both strong turbulence and…
In three-dimensional magnetic configurations for a plasma in which no closed field line or magnetic null exists, no magnetic reconnection can occur, by the strictest definition of reconnection. A finitely long pinch with line-tied boundary…
We present a two-fluid magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model of quasi-stationary, two-dimensional magnetic reconnection in an incompressible plasma composed of electrons and ions. We find two distinct regimes of slow and fast reconnection. The…
Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process crucial for heating the solar corona and generating the solar wind, but resolving and characterizing it on the Sun remains challenging. Using high-quality data from the…
Twisted magnetic flux ropes are ubiquitous in space and laboratory plasmas, and the merging of such flux ropes through magnetic reconnection is an important mechanism for restructuring magnetic fields and releasing free magnetic energy. The…
Asymmetric current sheets are likely to be prevalent in both astrophysical and laboratory plasmas with complex three dimensional (3D) magnetic topologies. This work presents kinematic analytical models for spine and fan reconnection at a…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental mechanism of driving eruptive phenomena of different scales and may be coupled with turbulence as suggested by recent remote-sensing and in-situ observations. However, the specific physics behind the…
Magnetic reconnection, breaking and reorganization of magnetic field topology, is a fundamental process for rapid release of magnetic energy into plasma particles that occurs pervasively throughout the universe. In most natural…