A Collaborative National Center for Fusion & Plasma Research

Magnetic reconnection

Magnetic reconnection (henceforth called "reconnection") refers to the breaking and reconnecting of oppositely directed magnetic field lines in a plasma. In the process, magnetic field energy is converted to plasma kinetic and thermal energy.

Amitava Bhattacharjee Elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union

Bhattacharjee is head of the Theory Department at PPPL and professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University

Physicist Masaaki Yamada wins the 2015 James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics

Masaaki Yamada, a Distinguished Laboratory Research Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has won the 2015 James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics. The award from the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics recognized Yamada for "fundamental experimental studies of magnetic reconnection relevant to space, astrophysical and fusion plasmas, and for pioneering contributions to the field of laboratory plasma astrophysics."

Physicist Masaaki Yamada wins the 2015 James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics

The award is from the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics

COLLOQUIUM: Reconnection at the Dayside Magnetopause from MMS

The NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission was developed and launched on March 12, 2015 to conduct a definitive experiment on magnetic reconnection in the boundary regions of the Earth’s magnetosphere. The focus is on understanding phenomena in the reconnection diffusion region that cause solar-wind and magnetospheric magnetic fields to merge, thereby releasing magnetic energy and accelerating charged particles.

PPPL data may play role in first NASA space probe dedicated to magnetic reconnection

The 2.5-year mission could employ data from PPPL's world-leading Magnetic Reconnection Experiment.

PPPL data may play role in first NASA space probe dedicated to magnetic reconnection

At 10:44 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, NASA launched the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS), a set of four spacecraft that will study the magnetic fields surrounding Earth. Sent into space aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, the craft mark the first NASA mission dedicated to investigating magnetic reconnection, a mysterious phenomenon that gives rise to the northern lights, solar flares and geomagnetic storms that can disrupt cell phone service, black out power grids and damage orbiting satellites.

PPPL researchers present cutting edge results at APS Plasma Physics Conference

Some 135 researchers, graduate students, and staff members from PPPL joined 1,500 research scientists from around the world at the 56^th annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics Conference from Oct. 27 to Oct. 31 in New Orleans. Topics in the sessions ranged from waves in plasma to the physics of ITER, the international physics experiment in Cadarache, France; to women in plasma physics. Dozens of PPPL scientists presented the results of their cutting-edge research into magnetic fusion and plasma science.

PPPL scientists take key step toward solving a major astrophysical mystery

Magnetic reconnection can trigger geomagnetic storms that disrupt cell phone service, damage satellites and blackout power grids. But how reconnection, in which the magnetic field lines in plasma snap apart and violently reconnect, transforms magnetic energy into explosive particle energy remains a major unsolved problem in plasma astrophysics. Magnetic field lines represent the strength and direction of magnetic fields.

PPPL scientists take key step toward solving a major astrophysical mystery

Jonathan Squire wins Princeton University Honorific Fellowship

Graduate student Jonathan Squire has won a highly competitive Honorific Fellowship from the Princeton University Graduate School. The award, for which Squire was nominated by the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics at PPPL, recognizes outstanding performance and professional promise and provides tuition and a stipend to fellowship winners