In this paper, we develop a lattice Boltzmann model for relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Even though the model is derived for resistive MHD, it is shown that it is numerically robust even in the high conductivity (ideal MHD) limit. In order to validate the numerical method, test simulations are carried out for both ideal and resistive limits, namely the propagation of Alfvén waves in th...

[1] In situ observation of the Earth’s magnetosphere has identified Hall magnetic fields as a key signature of collisionless magnetic reconnection. The inflow portion of the reconnection diffusion region is further characterized by strong electron pressure anisotropy. These two features are tightly linked in a quantitative model, which is verified using fully kinetic simulations. The model pred...

Magnetic reconnection based on the resistive and Hall MHD equations are reviewed. It is found from both theory and simulation that the impulsive reconnection can be achieved in the resistive and Hall MHD by imposing suitable boundary conditions. All results from resistive and Hall MHD indicate that reconnection processes contain two phases: slow growth phase and impulsive phase, and between the...

The reconnection of magnetic field lines is one of the fundamental processes that lead to the eruptive release of stored magnetic energy in plasmas. A large number of observations and experiments, e.g., solar flares, geomagnetic substorms, the sawtooth instability in fusion experiments, and laboratory reconnection experiments, support this hypothesis. Magnetic reconnection is important for the ...

The first experimental evidence of anisotropic electron energization during magnetic reconnection that favors a direction perpendicular to the guide magnetic field in a toroidal, magnetically confined plasma is reported in this Letter. Magnetic reconnection plays an important role in particle heating, energization, and transport in space and laboratory plasmas. In toroidal devices like the Madi...

We present a model for the spontaneous onset of fast magnetic reconnection in a weakly collisional plasma, such as the solar corona. When a current layer of macroscopic width undergoes collisional (Sweet-Parker) reconnection, a narrow dissipation region forms around the X-line. This dissipation region naturally becomes narrower during the reconnection process as stronger magnetic fields are con...

This paper reviews the progress in understanding the fundamental physics of magnetic reconnection, focusing on significant results in the past decade from dedicated laboratory experiments, numerical simulations, and space astrophysical observations. Particularly in the area of local reconnection physics, many important findings have been made with respect to two-fluid dynamics, the profile of t...

Two-dimensional, incompressible, zero guide-field, nonlinear Hall-MHD ~magnetohydrodynamical! simulations are used to investigate the scaling of the rate of forced magnetic reconnection in the so-called Taylor problem. In this problem, a small-amplitude boundary perturbation is suddenly applied to a tearing stable, slab plasma equilibrium; the perturbation being such as to drive magnetic reconn...

[1] We present a novel technique that exploits multiple spacecraft data to determine the impact parameters of the most general form of magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause. The method consists of a superposed epoch of multiple spacecraft magnetometer measurements that yields the instantaneous magnetic spatial gradients near a magnetopause reconnection site. The gradients establish the inst...

I propose that solar coronal heating is a self-regulating process that keeps the coronal plasma roughly marginally collisionless. The self-regulating mechanism is based on the interplay of two effects. First, plasma density controls coronal energy release via the transition between the slow collisional Sweet– Parker regime and the fast collisionless reconnection regime. This transition takes pl...