Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Wind and Within ICMEs

J. T. Gosling

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado, USA

Only recently has it been demonstrated that local, quasi-stationary reconnection occurs relatively frequently in the solar wind and often in association with ICMEs. Direct evidence for such reconnection is found in the observation of Petschek-type exhausts, i.e., exhausts of jetting plasma bounded by Alfven or slow mode waves, emanating from reconnection sites in the solar wind. The exhausts are identified as intervals of roughly Alfvenic accelerated or decelerated plasma flow confined to magnetic field reversal regions that usually take the form of bifurcated current sheets. Occasionally these reconnection exhausts are observed at the leading edges of ICMEs where the reconnection mimics that which occurs at Earth's dayside magnetopause; more often the exhausts are found within the interiors of, or immediately trailing, ICMEs. In this paper we provide an overview of the reconnection phenomenon as observed in the solar wind with an emphasis on reconnection associated with ICMEs.