We test and compare a number of existing models predicting the location of magnetic reconnection at Earth’s dayside magnetopause for various solar wind conditions. We employ robust image processing techniques to determine the locations where each model predicts reconnection to occur. The predictions are then compared to the magnetic separators, the magnetic field lines separating different magn...

Realistic models of magnetic reconnection in the solar chromosphere must take into account that the plasma is partially ionized and that plasma conditions within any two magnetic flux bundles undergoing reconnection may not be the same. Asymmetric reconnection in the chromosphere may occur when newly emerged flux interacts with pre-existing, overlying flux. We present 2.5D simulations of asymme...

In this paper we use the full armament of the MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale) spacecraft to study magnetic reconnection in the turbulent magnetosheath downstream of a quasi-parallel bow shock. Contrarily to the magnetopause and magnetotail cases, only a few observations of reconnection in the magnetosheath have been reported. The case study in this paper presents, for the first time, both fluid...

Observations by the EISCAT Svalbard radar are presented that show the response of the spatial structure of the ionosphere in the dayside cusp region to a rotational trend in the IMF clock angle. Over a period of one hour, the clock angle increased from about 45 to some 150, moving the likely location of the magnetopause reconnection site from the high-latitude lobe to near the equatorial plane....

[1] We report on detailed observations by the four Cluster spacecraft of magnetic reconnection and a Flux Transfer Event (FTE) at the magnetopause. We detect cold (eV) plasma at the magnetopause with two independent methods. We show that the cold ions can be essential for the electric field normal to the current sheet in the separatrix region at the edge of the FTE and for the associated accele...

A short review of physics results obtained in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) is given with an emphasis on the local features of magnetic reconnection in a controlled environment. Stable two-dimensional (2D) current sheets are formed and sustained by induction using two internal coils. The observed reconnection rates are found to be quantitatively consistent with a generalized Sweet-...

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in plasmas that results in the often explosive release of stored magnetic energy, but the trigger for its onset is not well understood. We explore this trigger for fast reconnection in toroidal experiments using a magnetic x-type geometry in the strong guide-field regime. We find that the onset occurs asymmetrically: the reconnection begins on one ...

We perform three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic reconnection with multiple magnetic null points. Magnetic field energy conversion into kinetic energy is about five times higher than in traditional Harris sheet configuration. More than 85% of initial magnetic field energy is transferred to particle energy during 25 reversed ion cyclofrequencies. Magnetic reconnection in the...

It is clear that the solar corona is being heated and that coronal magnetic fields undergo reconnection all the time. Here we attempt to show that these two facts are related--i.e. coronal reconnection generates heat. This attempt must address the fact that topological change of field lines does not automatically generate heat. We present one case of flux emergence where we have measured the ra...

" Observations of electron phase-space holes driven during magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma. The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. This work presents detailed experimental observations of electron phase-space holes driven during magnetic reconnection events on the Versatile Toroidal Facility. The holes ...