Space Physics Seminar spring-2015

The mechanism of coronal heating has been a long-standing mystery in space physics. Here we demonstrate that magnetic reconnection turbulence and the associated collisionless heating is able to produce heating rates comparable with observational constraints. To accurately describe reconnection in coronal plasmas, simulation techniques from fusion research are used that are able to efficiently capture the relevant physics in cases where the magnetic guide field far exceeds the reconnecting field in magnitude. Aside from plasma heating, consequences of flux rope mergers for nanoflare observations are discussed, as is the impact of pressure gradients on reconnection. In the latter context, a new plasma instability is presented that relies on self-reinforcing coupling between electrostatic and magnetic drifts.