Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais

Geomagnetic storm mystery solved: How magnetic energy turns into particle energy

Magnetic reconnection can trigger geomagnetic storms that disrupt cell phone service, damage satellites and black out power grids. But how reconnection, in which the magnetic field lines in plasma snap apart and violently reconnect, transforms magnetic energy into explosive particle energy remains a major unsolved problem in plasma astrophysics. Magnetic field lines represent the direction,… Continue lendo Geomagnetic storm mystery solved: How magnetic energy turns into particle energy