First-principles theory of the rate of magnetic reconnection in magnetospheric and solar plasmas

Abstract

Different models exist to characterize magnetic reconnection, a process that converts magnetic energy into plasma thermal and kinetic energy, but a quantitative theoretical predictive model of how rapidly it proceeds has been lacking. Here, a self-consistent theory of the reconnection rate derived from first principles, and confirmed with numerical simulations, provides a new understanding of reconnection in solar flares and geomagnetic substorms.