STANFORD UNIVERSITY
EE 350 RADIOSCIENCE SEMINAR
Professor Leonard Tyler
Autumn 2002-2003

Date: Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Time: 4:15-5:30 PM; Refreshments at 4:00 PM
Location: Bldg. TCSeq, Rm. 101

Remote Sensing of Magnetic Reconnection

in Space Plasmas

Dr. Stephen A Fuselier

Space Physics Dept., Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection is an energy transfer process that occurs in collisionless plasmas. It transfers energy from magnetic fields into particles. Magnetic reconnection is the process responsible for energy release in solar flares, the Earth's magnetotail, and at the Earth's magnetopause. This talk focuses on magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause, a region where the particle pressure of the solar wind and the magnetic pressure of the Earth's magnetic field are in balance. The talk is divided into three parts. First, magnetic reconnection is introduced and it is argued that currently we have only remote sensing observations of this process. Second, remote sensing observations of two properties of magnetic reconnection are discussed. These two properties are reconnection in the presence of plasma flow and how the change in topology of the Earth's magnetic field allows solar wind plasma to enter the Earth's magnetosphere. Finally, the third part of the talk will introduce future space missions to investigate this important energy transfer process.