In just minutes, a flare on the Sun can release enough energy to power the whole world for 20,000 years. An explosive process called magnetic reconnection triggers these solar flares. However, scientists have struggled for over 60 years to understand how this happens.
Now, a research team within Nasa’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) think they’ve figured it out.
The MMS team has developed a theory that explains how the most explosive type of magnetic reconnection – called fast reconnection – occurs. The new theory uses a common magnetic effect present in household devices, such as sensors that time vehicle anti-lock braking systems and know when a cell phone flip cover is closed.
“We finally understand what makes this type of magnetic reconnection so fast,” said lead researcher, Yi-Hsin Liu. “We now have a theory to explain it fully.”
If accurate, this theory could enable insights into nuclear fusion and provide better predictions of particle...