Search Publications

Kinetic Alfven wave (KAW) eigenmode in magnetosphere magnetic reconnection

Wang, Chi; Dai, Lei

One prominent signature of collisionless magnetic reconnection in the magnetosphere is the Hall effect. In the ion-scale region of reconnection, ions cannot follow the magnetic field line whereas electrons are still magnetized. The difference in the motions of electrons and ions leads to charge separation, the resulting transverse Hall electric fi…

Recent progress on magnetic reconnection by in situ measurements

Lu, Quanming; Wang, Rongsheng; Lu, San +2 more

In the last decades, a few spacecraft missions have been launched to investigate the process of magnetic reconnection in space, during which magnetic free energy is explosively released into plasma kinetic energy and heating. Due to the sophisticated in situ measurements of the spacecraft missions, a big progress has been achieved over the last de…

Electric fields and currents in solar-terrestrial plasmas

Yang, Zhongwei; Parks, George K.; Lee, Ensang

This article will review many ideas and concepts originally suggested by Alfvén (Space Sci Rev 7:1940, 1967) and Fälthammar (Rev Geophys 15: 457, 1977) on the important roles electric fields and currents play in solar-terrestrial plasmas. Much of our understanding of planetary and solar plasmas has come primarily from treating plasmas as fluids. F…