Plasma Physics Seminar

Dr. Marc Swisdak IREAP, University of Maryland Magnetic Reconnection: An Overview and Current Problems Abstract:  Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous natural process that converts magnetic energy into heat and fluid motions and is known or suspected to occur in tokamaks, the magnetosphere, the solar corona, and accretion disks.  The problem of getting the reconnection rate to be fast enough to agree with observations is a suprisingly tough one that has only been solved in the past decade.  After describing a currently accepted solution I will discuss several current problems in reconnection research, including the self-consistent generation and importance of turbulence and the 3D growth of reconnection in the magnetotail.