Magnetic Reconnection and Particle Acceleration in Space and
Astrophysical Systems
Magnetic reconnection is responsible for the explosive release of magnetic energy in space and astrophysical systems. Such impulsive energy release spans a wide variety environments throughout the universe, including solar and stellar flares, and flares in pulsar nebulae, jets in active galactic nuclei and other astrophysical systems. What controls the dynamics of reconnection and the mechanisms responsible for efficient particle acceleration are therefore topics of great scientific interest, especially in light of the goal to interpret simultaneous observations of gravitational waves and electromagnetic signatures in astrophysical events. Observations reveal that a large fraction of released magnetic energy goes into energetic particles, whose distributions take the form of power laws that extend many decades in energy. Theoretical ideas about the mechanism that drives these energetic particle during reconnection have changed dramatically over the past decade. Early ideas that parallel electric fields were the dominate driver have been displaced by a new picture in which the growth and merging of large numbers of magnetic flux ropes both releases magnetic energy and efficiently drives energy gain of particles. New computational and analytic models are for the first time reproducing the extended power laws seen in observations. The talk will emphasize basic physical concepts that reveal both the physics of magnetic reconnection and the mechanisms for particle energy gain.