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The Diffusion Region in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

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Abstract

A review of present understanding of the dissipation region in magnetic reconnection is presented. The review focuses on results of the thermal inertia-based dissipation mechanism but alternative mechanisms are mentioned as well. For the former process, a combination of analytical theory and numerical modeling is presented. Furthermore, a new relation between the electric field expressions for anti-parallel and guide field reconnection is developed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Weather Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Michael Hesse, Masha Kuznetsova & Seiji Zenitani

  2. University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK

    Thomas Neukirch

  3. Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Karl Schindler

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  1. Michael Hesse
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  2. Thomas Neukirch
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  3. Karl Schindler
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  4. Masha Kuznetsova
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  5. Seiji Zenitani
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Correspondence to Michael Hesse.

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Hesse, M., Neukirch, T., Schindler, K. et al. The Diffusion Region in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection. Space Sci Rev 160, 3–23 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-010-9740-1

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