Recent progress of magnetic reconnection research in the MAST spherical tokamak

Abstract

Understanding the dynamics and energetics of magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma: Review of recent progress on selected fronts

Effective Proton Heating through Collisionless Driven Reconnection in the Presence of Guide Field

“…In addition, magnetic reconnection has the interesting aspect that energy stored in the magnetic field is rapidly converted to particle kinetic and thermal energies. Plasma heating during magnetic reconnection is observed in laboratory plasmas such as in TS-3 and TS-4 at the University of Tokyo [1,2], in MRX at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory [3], and in MAST at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy [4].…”

Global Ion Heating during ST Merging Driven by High Guide Field Reconnection

“…Recently many observations of ion heating during guide field reconnection in laboratory experiments have reveled the mechanisms of ion acceleration/heating [10,12]. However, those observations were strictly limited to the region around the current sheet, along with a part of the downstream region.…”

Using topology to locate the position where fully three-dimensional reconnection occurs

“…It was first proposed over 80 years ago as a mechanism for the release of tremendous energy in solar flares [15,16]. The range from astrophysical observation and theory [17][18][19] seen indirectly in the solar corona using UV and X ray emission [20,21], solar flares [22,23], the Earth's magnetotail [14], as well as magnetospheres of other planets [24,25] thermonuclear fusion experiments [26,27], and basic plasma physics laboratory experiments [28][29][30][31][32]. We present several examples but point out that excellent review papers [12,[33][34][35] books [36][37][38] and compendiums of articles [39] are out there.…”