This award supports a three-year collaborative research project between Professor Ken-Ichi Nishikawa of Rutgers University in New Jersey and Professor Kazunari Shibata of Kyoto University in Japan. The researchers will be undertaking a study of integrated research on magnetic reconnection in solar corona and magnetosphere. Magnetic reconnection is widely believed to be a crucial process in solar, magnetospheric, and astrophysical plasmas, being the means by which their magnetic topologies are determined and by which energy stored in magnetic fields is released rapidly to produce such phenomena as magnetospheric storms, solar flares, and particle acceleration in astrophysical jets. Recent solar physics missions launched into space provide the ability to observe magnetic reconnection in the solar atmosphere to a degree not before possible. The goal of the U.S. and Japanese researchers is to directly compare results from particle simulations with (1) MHD simulations, (2) low dimensional dynamic models, and (3) direct observations. These studies will reveal unsolved problems in magnetosphere, solar corona, and astrophysical jets. Simulation studies for the research will require intensive computing resources, which the researchers have available to them in both countries.
The project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. The ability to use such simulation techniques would be critical to a full understanding of the physics underlying important processes in space weather. The project advances international human resources through the participation of postdoc and graduate students. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. Results of the research will be published in international scientific journals and will also be presented at scientific meetings in the U.S. and abroad. The research will also be available on their Web site as follows: www.physics.rutgers.edu/~kenichi
