Magnetic Reconnection Theoretical and Observational Perspectives

This volume covers different aspects of recent theoretical and observational work on magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma-physical process by which energy stored in magnetic field is converted, often explosively, into heat and kinetic energy. This collection of papers from the fields of solar and space physics, astrophysics, and laboratory plasma physics is especially timely in view of NASA's upcoming Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which will use Earth's magetosphere as a laboratory to test, through in-situ measurement of the plasma, energetic particles, and electric and magnetic fields, the various and sometimes competing models and theories of magnetic reconnection.

This volume is aimed at researchers in solar physics, magnetospheric physics and plasma physics.

Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 160/1-4, 2011.

Preface.- The Diffusion Region in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection.- Understanding the Dynamics of Magnetic Reconnection Layer.- Magnetic Reconnection in Extreme Astrophysical Environments.- Observed Aspects of Reconnection in Solar Eruptions.- Properties of Near-Earth Magnetic Reconnection from In-Situ Observations.- Reconnection and Waves: A Review with a Perspective.- Who Needs Turbulence? A Review of Turbulence Effects in the Heliosphere and on the Fundamental Process of Reconnection.

William Lewis is the Principal Scientist at Southwest Research Institute. He has also been a member of Yosemite 2010 Program Committee.

Spiro Antiochos is an astrophysicist in the Heliophysics Division of NASA GSFC. His fields of expertise include theoretical solar physics and plasma physics. Primarily, his work consists of developing theoretical models to explain observations from NASA space missions. During his career he has worked on a number of problems related to the Sun and Heliosphere, in particular, the physics of magnetic-driven activity and the structure of the Sun's corona.

James Drake received his doctorate in Theoretical Physics in 1975. He remained at UCLA for a brief time as a post-doctoral scholar and then moved to the University of Maryland, first as a post-doctoral scholar and then as a member of the teaching faculty in the Department of Physics and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology. In recognition for his contributions to the field of plasma physics, he was granted fellowship status in the American Physical Society and was awarded a Humboldt Senior Scientist Research Award.