AGS-PRF: A Study of the Onset of Explosive Magnetic Energy Release

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This is a 2-year postgraduate research fellowship project to investigate multi-scale processes that drive magnetic reconnection in magnetic configurations relevant to the solar corona and to the Earth's Magnetosphere. Results from global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations will be used as input to kinetic scale calculations of reconnection. The kinetic simulations will then be analyzed for feedback to the global evolution, in particular to address key issues such as energy partition and particle acceleration. Specifically, the Principal Investigator (PI) will analyze the evolution of extended current sheets from global simulations of Earth's Magnetotail and Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)/solar flare events. Drivers for kinetic simulations will be determined from the dynamics near the primary reconnection sites, and will then be implemented in a high performance Particle-in-Cell (PIC) code. From the kinetic simulations, the energy budgets and the particle distributions will be calculated. These will be (i) compared with magnetospheric and solar data, where possible, as a check of the validity of the kinetic model, and (ii) used for determining a "kinetic resistivity" model that can then be put back into global MHD simulations.This research project is perceived as an achievable intermediate step in understanding the multi-scale physical couplings in processes involving magnetic reconnection. It represents a pioneering, first-time investigation, in particular for solar events. As reconnection is a fundamental plasma physics phenomenon, the results of the effort will have broad impacts far beyond solar and magnetospheric physics. The PI is a recent PhD graduate and this research project will support the continued training and career advancement of an early-career female scientist in the Atmospheric and Geospace sciences