Magnetic reconnection (graduate course)

Time: 2020, April 14 - June 30

Credit points: 10 ECTS

Prerequisites: basic course on plasma physics

Responsible department: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University

This course covers the theory of Magnetic Reconnection in plasma and it's applications. A particular focus is on the space observations and numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection.

Literature: In addition to lecture notes the course will be based on the book:
Biskamp, Dieter 2000, Magnetic reconnection in plasmas, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000 xiv, 387 p. Cambridge monographs on plasma physics, vol. 3, ISBN 0521582881 Magnetic Reconnection in Plasmas.

Yuri Khotyaintsev, Stefano Markidis.

Program

Part 1 - MHD picture

1. Current sheets, MHD discontinuities

2. Frozen in condition, topology, magnetic energy

3. 2D steady reconnection Sweet-Parker

4. 2D steady Petchek

5. 2-Fluid Hall reconnection

6. Asymmetric reconnection

7. Flow shear, suppression of reconnection

8. Guide-field reconnection, 3D reconnection

9. reconnection onset, tearing instability

10. Unsteady reconnection, multiple X-lines, plasmoids

11. Miniexam 1

Part 2 - collisionless reconnection

1. Reconnection identification: Vallén test, MVA, D-shaped ion distributions

2. Energy conversion (E*J, Poynting FLux, heating)

3. Kinetic boundaries (electron, ion, Alfven edge, separatrix region, DFs)

4. Egedal potentials

5. Particle dynamics (meandering, chaotic, crescents)

6. Miniexam 2

7. Waves and instabilities

8. Anomalous resistivity

9. Turbulent reconnection and reconnection in turbulence

10. Particle acceleration

Part 3 - Reconnection applications

1. Magnetosphere, solar wind, planetary magnetospheres

2. Solar Corona and astro

3. Lab

Part 4 - Lab

1. Simulations MHD, PIC, Vlasov, hybrid

Earlier courses

The course has been given earlier 2014, 2012, 2008, 2003.

https://space.irfu.se/course/mr/index2020.html
last modified on Tuesday, 03-Jan-2023 16:53:36 CET