CAREER: Furthering Our Understanding of Fast Magnetic Reconnection in the Geospace Environment — from Electron-only Reconnection to Turbulent Reconnection

Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important energy conversion and transport processes in geospace plasmas. One important fundamental question is how fast magnetic reconnection occurs, causing an explosive release of magnetic energy in nature. This project will address this important fundamental question through numerical simulations.

The educational component is a unique combination of Science and Art. The PI will work with undergraduate student animators at the Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation Lab of Dartmouth College to produce high-quality animations that elevate the awareness and accessibility of space plasma physics to the next generation of the STEM workforce.

A novel theoretical framework that includes ultra-relativistic effects, asymmetry, back-pressure and pressure anisotropy will be used to test against newly observed types of magnetic reconnection. These include electron-only reconnection first found in the magnetosheath downstream of the bow shock and collisionless turbulent reconnection captured in the magnetotail.

The project will use the particle-in-cell code VPIC, complemented with the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code Athena/Athena++ and the Hall-MHD code F3D to (1) explain and predict the observed fast rate of electron-only reconnection and (2) explain and predict the fast rate of collisionless turbulent reconnection.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.