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Updated: Dec 21, 2025

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry
Published on: August 1, 2017
Magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasmas
Lei Ni1,2, Hantao Ji3,4, Nicholas A Murphy5
1Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 110, Kunming, Yunnan 650216, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Magnetic reconnection has been intensively studied in fully ionized plasmas. However, plasmas are often partially ionized in astrophysical environments. The interactions between the neutral particles and ionized plasmas might strongly affect the reconnection mechanisms. We review magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasmas in different environments from theoretical, numerical, observational and experimental points of view. We focus on mechanisms which make magnetic reconnection fast enough to compare with observations, especially on the reconnection events in the low solar atmosphere. The heating mechanisms and the related observational evidence of the reconnection process in the partially ionized low solar atmosphere are also discussed. We describe magnetic reconnection in weakly ionized astrophysical environments, including the interstellar medium and protostellar discs. We present recent achievements about fast reconnection in laboratory experiments for partially ionized plasmas.
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