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PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
BEGIN:VEVENT
SEQUENCE:0
UID:UW-Physics-Event-4475
DTSTART:20170217T213000Z
DURATION:PT1H0M0S
DTSTAMP:20260416T045415Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170214T211831Z
LOCATION:2241 Chamberlin hall
SUMMARY:The basic physics of collisionless magnetic reconnection\, Phy
 sics Department Colloquium\, Michael Hesse\, NASA & Birkeland Centre f
 or Space Science
DESCRIPTION:Magnetic reconnection is a plasma process\, which enables\
 , by means of highly localized physics\, the often-explosive release o
 f stored magnetic energy over very large spatial scales. Magnetic reco
 nnection is believed to play a key role in the dynamics of plasmas in 
 a diverse multitude of environments\, which include pulsar magnetosphe
 res on one end\, and laboratory plasmas on the other. Owing both to th
 is universality and to the impact of reconnection\, the underlying phy
 sics has been a target or research for quite some time. However\, only
  the advent of advanced computer simulations and\, most recently\, the
  revealing space observations of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) m
 ission have facilitated breakthroughs in our understanding of the crit
 ical local physics in the so-called diffusion region. This talk will p
 resent recent research results pertaining to the diffusion region. As 
 an introduction\, we will review the role reconnection plays as an ene
 rgy release and conversion process\, and briefly look at a variety of 
 applications. We will then focus on reconnection at the Earth’s magn
 etopause\, and will investigate in detail a high-precision numerical s
 imulation of reconnection in this environment. Thereafter\, we will lo
 ok into the role of the reconnection electric field in sustaining the 
 current flow in the inner diffusion region. We will end by demonstrati
 ng that complex particle behavior\, which leads to population mixing a
 nd an effective\, thermal\, inertia\, is critical aspect of this regio
 n.
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=4475
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