This book presents recent advances in the physics of magnetic reconnection, investigated via both in situ spacecraft observations and fully kinetic numerical simulations. Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in plasma physics during which the topological reconfiguration of the magnetic field leads to energy conversion and particle energization. The book focuses on the physics of the electron diffusion region (EDR), a crucial region where the electrons are decoupled from the magnetic field and efficiently accelerated by the electric field. By using recent, high-resolution measurements provided by NASA's Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission (MMS), the book investigates the structure of the EDR at the Earth's magnetopause. The presented analysis provides evidence for an inhomogeneous and patchy EDR structure. The structure of the EDR appears to be more complex than the in laminar picture suggested by previous observations and simulations. Then, electrons dynamics inthe EDR is studied using a novel, fully kinetic Eulerian VlasovDarwin model that has been implemented in the VlasovDArwin numerical code (ViDA), explained in detail in the book. Lastly, the book covers the testing of this new code, and investigates the contributions of the different terms in the generalized Ohm's law within the EDR, highlighting the role of the electron inertia term.

Nominated as an outstanding Ph.D. thesis by the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France Includes a comprehensive review of recent advances in our understanding of magnetic reconnection at the electron scale Presents evidence on the complex structure of the electron diffusion region by means of MMS (Magnetospheric MultiScale) data Presents a detailed description of a novel Eulerian, fully kinetic code designed to address plasma physics at the electron scale

Autorentext

Giulia Cozzani is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Uppsala, Sweden. She received her PhD from Université Paris-Saclay (École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France) and from Università di Pisa (Pisa, Italy) in 2019. Her main research interests are related to magnetic reconnection in space plasmas, in particular at the Earth's magnetosphere. She has been focusing on the electron scale processes related to magnetic reconnection taking place in the electron di usion region.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Fundamental Concepts Associated with Magnetic Reconnection.- Magnetic Reconnection at the Earth's Magnetosphere.- Methods of Spacecraft Data Analysis.