Electron and ion dynamics in reconnection diffusion regions
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process responsible for the sometimes explosive release of magnetic energy in space and laboratory plasmas. Inside the diffusion regions of magnetic reconnection, the plasma becomes demagnetized and decouples from the magnetic field, enabling the change in magnetic topology necessary to power the energy release over larger scales. Since it was launched in 2015, the Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) mission has significantly advanced the understanding of the particle dynamics key to magnetic reconnection by providing high-resolution, in-situ measurements able to resolve ion and electron kinetic scales, i.e. a fraction of a gyroradius, that have confirmed theoretical predictions, revealed new phenomena, and refined existing models. These breakthroughs are critical for understanding not only space plasmas but also laboratory and astrophysical plasmas where magnetic reconnection occurs. In this work, we review the ion and electron dynamics occurring within the diffusion regions, in the inflow, along the separatrices, and downstream of the diffusion regions, in different reconnection configurations: symmetric, asymmetric, antiparallel, and guide field reconnection.
Date Issued
2025-08-01
Date Acceptance
2025-07-04
Citation
Space Science Reviews, 2025, 221 (5)
ISSN
0038-6308
Publisher
Springer
Journal / Book Title
Space Science Reviews
Volume
221
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Subjects
Antiparallel reconnection
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Asymmetric reconnection
COLLISIONLESS RECONNECTION
DAYSIDE MAGNETOPAUSE
Electron diffusion region
Electron dynamics
ENERGY-CONVERSION
Guide field reconnection
Hall electric and magnetic fields
Ion diffusion region
Ion dynamics
Kinetic processes
LARGE-AMPLITUDE
LOWER-HYBRID WAVES
Magnetic reconnection
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOSPHERIC MULTISCALE OBSERVATIONS
MAGNETOTAIL RECONNECTION
Physical Sciences
PLASMA SHEET
Science & Technology
SEPARATRIX REGIONS
Symmetric reconnection
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
73
Date Publish Online
2025-08-11