Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
May 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21620903u&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #216, #209.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.865
Physics
Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma-physical process involving breaking ideal-MHD frozen-in constraints on magnetic field connectivity and hence resulting in a dramatic rearrangement of the magnetic topology. It often leads to a violent release of the free magnetic energy. Reconnection has long been acknowledged to be of great importance in laboratory plasma physics (magnetic fusion) and in Space and Solar Physics (responsible for solar flares and magnetospheric substorms). In addition, its importance in Astrophysics has been increasingly more and more recognized in recent years. However, due to a great diversity of astrophysical environments, the fundamental physics of astrophysical magnetic reconnection can be quite different from that of the traditional reconnection encountered in the solar system. In this talk I will first explain the general principles governing the occurrence of reconnection in astrophysics and will illustrate these principles with specific examples of astrophysical systems where we believe reconnection plays an important role. I will then discuss the diversity of the physical conditions in these systems and will explain how this leads to the difference in the corresponding regimes of reconnection. To illustrate my points in the most dramatic way, I will focus on the most extreme case of astrophysical magnetic reconnection --- reconnection of magnetar-strength magnetic fields, important for giant SGR flares and magnetic dissipation in GRB jets. I will explain that the inevitable dominance of radiation (radiation pressure, photon drag, and radiative cooling) and pair creation inside the reconnection layer calls for a substantial revision of our views on magnetic reconnection when applied to these environments. I will then present a new theoretical picture of reconnection under these high-energy-density conditions and will discuss its observational consequences and the prospects for future research. (Work supported in part by the NSF)
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