Related papers: The Transition from Anti-Parallel to Component Mag…
Magnetic reconnection requires the violation of the frozen-in condition which ties gyrating charged particles to the magnetic field inhibiting diffusion. Ongoing reconnection has been identified in near-Earth space as being responsible for…
The first self-consistent simulations of electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a macroscale system are presented. Consistent with solar flare observations the spectra of energetic electrons take the form of power-laws that…
The reversibility of the transfer of energy from the magnetic field to the surrounding plasma during magnetic reconnection is examined. Trajectories of test particles in an analytic model of the fields demonstrate that irreversibility is…
Using observations of Earth's bow shock by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, we show for the first time that active magnetic reconnection is occurring at current sheets embedded within the quasi-parallel shock's transition layer. We…
Based on the first principles (i.e. (i) by balancing the magnetic field advection with the term containing electron pressure tensor non-gyrotropic components in the generalised Ohm's law; (ii) using the conservation of mass; and (iii)…
We investigate the time evolution of the six-component electron pressure tensor in a hybrid code studying consequences for the two-dimensional reconnection process in an initially perturbed Harris sheet. We put forward that two tensor…
The debate surrounding fast magnetic energy dissipation by magnetic reconnection has remained a fundamental topic in the plasma universe, not only in the Earth's magnetosphere but in astrophysical objects such as pulsar magnetospheres and…
Electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection is thought to play a key role in time-variable high-energy emission from astrophysical systems. By means of particle-in-cell simulations of trans-relativistic reconnection, we investigate…
We perform two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic reconnection for various strengths of the guide field (perpendicular to the reversing field), in magnetically-dominated electron-positron plasmas. Magnetic reconnection…
In thin ($\Delta<$ few $\lambda_i$) collisionless current sheets in a space plasma like the magnetospheric tail or magnetopause current layer, magnetic fields can grow {from thermal fluctuation level by the action of the non-magnetic Weibel…
We simulate magnetic reconnection in electron-positron (pair) plasma using a collisionless two-fluid model with isotropic pressure. In this model the resistive, Hall, and electrokinetic pressure terms are absent from the curl of Ohm's law,…
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…
We analyze a high-resolution simulation of magnetopause reconnection observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission and explain the occurrence of strongly localized dissipation with an amplitude more than an order of magnitude…
Microscopically, collisionless reconnection in thin current sheets is argued to involve `composite electrons' in the ion inertial (Hall current) domain, a tiny fraction of electrons only. These `composite electrons' are confined to lower…
Kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are used to identify signatures of the electron diffusion region (EDR) and its surroundings during asymmetric magnetic reconnection. A "shoulder" in the sunward pointing normal electric field (EN > 0) at…
Analytical theory of fast magnetic reconnection with a large guide field is presented for the first time. We confirm that two distinct reconnection regimes are possible depending on whether the diffusion region thickness $\delta$ is larger…
Electron-only reconnection is a process recently observed in the Earth's magnetosheath, where magnetic reconnection occurs at electron kinetic scales with only electrons involved. Electron-only reconnection is likely to have a significant…
Magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized solar chromosphere is studied in 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including radiative cooling and ambipolar diffusion. A Harris current sheet with and without a guide field is…
Magnetic separators, which lie on the boundary between four topologically-distinct flux domains, are prime locations in three-dimensional magnetic fields for reconnection, especially in the magnetosphere between the planetary and…
A new regime of fast magnetic reconnection with an out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field is reported in which the key role is played by an electron pressure anisotropy described by the Chew-Goldberger-Low gyrotropic equations of state in the…