THE ELECTRON DIFFUSION REGION (EDR) IS BELIEVED TO HOLD THE KEY TO ANSWERING THE QUESTION OF HOW MAGNETIC RECONNECTION CAN OCCUR IN A COLLISIONLESS PLASMA WHICH HAS REMAINED UNANSWERED FOR OVER 70 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF MAGNETIC NEUTRAL POINTS. NASA S FOUR MAGNETOSPHERIC MULTISCALE (MMS) SPACECRAFT WERE LAUNCHED IN 2015 WITH THE MISSION TO CAPTURE AND PROBE THE MICROPHYSICS OF THE EDR RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLISIONLESS RECONNECTION IN EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EQUATIONS IN PLASMA PHYSICS THE VLASOV EQUATION DESCRIBES THE EVOLUTION OF THE PARTICLE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION IN SEVEN-DIMENSIONAL PHASE SPACE AND IS NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE KINETIC DYNAMICS OF COLLISIONLESS PLASMA PROCESSES PARTICULARLY THOSE FUELING ELECTRON DYNAMICS IN THE EDR OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION.

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators