Magnetic Reconnection (Q4507771)

Magnetic reconnection, a relatively new notion in magnetohydrodynamics, can explain many dynamic phenomena in the Universe (e.g., such different processes as solar flares, geomagnetic substorms, or laboratory plasma physics in tokamaks). The excellent book reviewed here presents practically the first overview of this branch of magnetohydrodynamic plasma theory, the more so as the authors are the most eminent representatives of this line of investigations. The book itself contains a broader outline of MHD theory, paying at the same time attention to some specialized chapters of MHD theory. The themes of the book are distributed in thirteen chapters: Introduction: On reconnection in general; Current sheet formation; Magnetic annihilation; Steady reconnection: The classical solutions; Steady reconnection: The tearing mode; Unsteady reconnection: Other approaches; Reconnection in three dimensions; Solar applications; Astrophysical applications; Particle acceleration. The references amount to 49 pages!