Semester 1, Week 8: Prof James McLaughlin, Northumbria University

Academic webpage

Title: Oscillatory Reconnection

Abstract: Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process at the heart of many dynamic events such as solar flares. These are clearly time-dependent events, and so we require time-dependent reconnection models to capture this dynamic behaviour. In this talk, I will describe ongoing investigations into “Oscillatory Reconnection”: a type of time-dependent, wave-generating reconnection. This will include 2D and 3D nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical models that involve reconnection, MHD waves and shock behaviour. At its heart, Oscillatory Reconnection is a dynamic energy release process and so the results could be of interest to several communities, including solar physics, astrophysical, fusion, laboratory-based plasma, computational MHD and space weather communities.