This volume covers different aspects of recent theoretical and
observational work on magnetic reconnection, a fundamental
plasma-physical process by which energy stored in magnetic field is
converted, often explosively, into heat and kinetic energy. This
collection of papers from the fields of solar and space physics,
astrophysics, and laboratory plasma physics is especially timely in view
of NASA's upcoming Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which will use
Earth's magetosphere as a laboratory to test, through in-situ
measurement of the plasma, energetic particles, and electric and
magnetic fields, the various and sometimes competing models and theories
of magnetic reconnection.
This volume is aimed at researchers in solar physics, magnetospheric
physics and plasma physics.
Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 160/1-4,
2011.