Reply To: Look at this

[jamesr]

mjv1121 wrote: “There is no ‘field-line reconnection’ that can transfer energy to the particles, nor release energy in any other way.” – Hannes Alfven 1976

…I have found an excellent page: http://sites.google.com/site/cosmologyquest/what-we-do-know/magnetic-reconnection

I beg to differ. That page is woefully out of date and misleading. Much work has been done in this area in the past few years and although not complete, our understanding of magnetic reconnection and assosiated energy release has moved on a lot since most of the papers cited on that website.

Here are just a few from a quick search:
A. Lazarian, G. Kowal, E. Vishniac, E. de Gouveia Dal Pino, Fast magnetic reconnection and energetic particle acceleration, Planetary and Space Science, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 22 July 2010, ISSN 0032-0633, DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2010.07.020.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V6T-50KRYSG-2/2/ffd72a4b4edea898faa7379860361f3b)
Abstract:
Our numerical simulations show that the reconnection of magnetic field becomes fast in the presence of weak turbulence in the way consistent with the Lazarian and Vishniac (1999) model of fast reconnection. We trace particles within our numerical simulations and show that the particles can be efficiently accelerated via the first order Fermi acceleration. We discuss the acceleration arising from reconnection as a possible origin of the anomalous cosmic rays measured by Voyagers.

D.I. Pontin, Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection regimes: A review, Advances in Space Research, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 8 January 2011, ISSN 0273-1177, DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2010.12.022.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V3S-51WV08G-2/2/325d6bef0a412cf8b82c51c436272364)
Abstract:
The magnetic field in many astrophysical plasmas – such as the Solar corona and Earth’s magnetosphere – has been shown to have a highly complex, three-dimensional structure. Recent advances in theory and computational simulations have shown that reconnection in these fields also has a three-dimensional nature, in contrast to the widely used two-dimensional (or 2.5-dimensional) models. Here we discuss the underlying theory of three-dimensional magnetic reconnection. We also review a selection of new models that illustrate the current state of the art, as well as highlighting the complexity of energy release processes mediated by reconnection in complicated three-dimensional magnetic fields.
Keywords: magnetic fields; magnetic reconnection; magnetohydrodynamics

M. Barta, J. Buchner, M. Karlicky, Multi-scale MHD approach to the current sheet filamentation in solar coronal reconnection, Advances in Space Research, Volume 45, Issue 1, 4 January 2010, Pages 10-17, ISSN 0273-1177, DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2009.07.025.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V3S-4WXC26D-2/2/f28974a02cc3636b72bfc0ccef3f6562)
Abstract:
Magnetic field reconnection – considered now as a key process in the commonly accepted standard scenario of solar flares – spans over many mutually coupled scales from the global flare dimensions ([approximate]10 Mm) down to the scale, where non-ideal kinetic plasma effects takes place ([approximate]10 m). Direct numerical simulation covering all the scales is, therefore, impossible. Nevertheless, the filamentary nature of the current sheet fragmentation together with rescalability of ideal-MHD equations – which governs the processes before reaching the scales of non-ideal plasma response – allow to describe the large- and intermediate-scale dynamics of reconnection flow with highly reduced request for number of grid points. Since the smaller-scale (and faster) dynamics sets-in only in regions of enhanced current sheet filamentation, we focus just on these areas, which occupy only a small fraction of the total volume. Generally, as the fragmentation continues, it forms a cascade of filamentation until kinetic non-ideal processes come to play. Information relevant for description of the smaller-scale physics occupies only a small fraction of grid-cells describing the large-scale dynamics. Thus, one can subsequently zoom-in onto the regions of continuing current filamentation. The current-sheet fragmentation cascade anticipated by Shibata and Tanuma [Shibata, K., Tanuma, S. Plasmoid-induced-reconnection and fractal reconnection. Earth, Planets, and Space 53, 473-482, 2001], creates multiple dissipative regions in a single current sheet, which can play a key role for DC-field particle acceleration in a flare reconnection. The main goal of the paper is to numerically investigate the relevance of cascading reconnection for solar flares. The numerical algorithm implemented for that purpose and first results are presented in this research note. Proposed algorithm – though motivated by the self-similar nature of MHD equations – belongs in fact to the class of block-structured Adaptive Mesh Refinement codes.
Keywords: Solar flares; Magnetic reconnection; Numerical MHD