Dartmouth Events

Abstract: Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous and fundamental process in the universe. It alters the geometry of the magnetic field and enables energy conversion between the fields and particles across multiple scales. As one of the most important topics in plasma physics, magnetic reconnection has been studied intensively for decades. Only since the launch of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in 2015 have we been able to investigate the kinetic and electron scale nature of reconnection with multipoint in-situ observations in space.

MMS operates in a highly elliptical orbit and targets the prime locations of magnetic reconnections in the Earth’s magnetosphere: the dayside magnetopause and the nightside magnetotail plasma sheet. MMS has four identical spacecraft in a tetrahedron formation, enabling spatial gradient analysis. The instruments on board MMS can measure the magnetic field, the electric field, as well as the three-dimensional (3D) distributions of plasma at a high cadence. These outstanding features of MMS have nourished fruitful studies on reconnection, especially at the kinetic and electron scales.

In this presentation, we review the groundbreaking discoveries about reconnection in the era of MMS and introduce our latest findings on: 1) The identification of active reconnection sites with the newly developed Magnetic Flux Transport (MFT) analysis. 2) The nonorthogonal x-lines phenomenon. 3) A magnetic reconnection event with extraordinarily high particle energization in the magnetotail turbulence.

These studies also open up important questions for future investigations, such as the 3D aspect of reconnection, the connection and interaction between reconnection and turbulence, and the connection with particle acceleration. The recently completed MMS unbiased magnetosheath campaign and the upcoming large separation string-of-pearl campaign will provide us with more opportunities to deepen our understanding of reconnection.

Bio: Dr. Qi is a research scientist at LASP CU Boulder. She earned her B.S. degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2016, and later completed her Ph.D. at UCLA in 2021. Dr. Qi joined LASP in 2021. Her primary focus has been using MMS observations to investigate magnetic reconnection and the related plasma processes within Earth's magnetosphere. Her research interest also includes plasma turbulence, as well as reconnection in the solar wind and solar corona.

Hosted by Dr. Tak Chu Li

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Meeting ID: 927 5142 0885
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