Cross-discipline study of the dynamics and energetics of the magnetic reconnection both in laboratory and space plasmas

Despite enormous differences in the size of the reconnection layer (by $10^6$), remarkably self-similar characteristics have been observed in both laboratory and magnetosphere plasmas. The key dynamics were comparatively studied with data from laboratory (MRX) and space (MMS) in the context of two-fluid physics, aided by numerical simulations [1]. A large potential well is observed within the reconnection plane with ions accelerated by the E field toward the exhaust. It was also found in MRX and numerical simulations that a half of inflow magnetic energy is converted to ions and electrons in the reconnection layer. While this measurement is yet to be verified in the magnetosphere, a concept of a super-cluster cubesat system has been proposed, which is based on a 2D ($11\times11$) or 3D (${5\times5\times5}$) satellite grid in Earth’s magnetosphere [2]. With the key two-fluid physics occurring in the scale length of 1-200 km, optimal distance between adjacent satellites for measuring the structure of reconnection layer is 2-50 km, such that the total grid size can be 20-500 km. This system should directly contribute to the understanding the global dynamics. Overall program scope will be presented. [1] M. Yamada, et al, Nature Comms, (2018) [2] M. Yamada, et al, “Proc. COSPAR (2017)