Physics Department Colloquia |
Events During the Week of January 26th through February 2nd, 2020
Monday, January 27th, 2020
- No events scheduled
Tuesday, January 28th, 2020
- No events scheduled
Wednesday, January 29th, 2020
- No events scheduled
Thursday, January 30th, 2020
- No events scheduled
Friday, January 31st, 2020
- Magnetic reconnection: where are we and where are we going?
- Time: 3:30 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Michael Hesse, University of Bergen, Norway
- Abstract: Magnetic reconnection is the engine behind the often-explosive conversion of magnetic energy to the energy of particles. Due to this conversion as well as its plasma transport properties, it powers solar eruptions, magnetospheric substorms and storms and the aurora. Further away, in astrophysical systems, it is believed to be tied to gamma ray bursts, accretion disks, and other energy release processes, while it can cause violent disruptions in fusion machines. Due to the extremely small scale size of its central diffusion region, the basic mechanisms behind reconnection have been elusive for many decades. Courtesy of NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission this has changed in the last three years. This presentation will start with a summary of our present knowledge and present an outlook to open science questions and applications of the new knowledge.
- Host: Jan Egedal