Magnetic Reconnection in 2D MHD Turbulence: A Statistical Perspective

Recent studies have underscored the pivotal role of magnetic reconnection in the turbulent relaxation of astrophysical and space plasmas. In solar physics, magnetic reconnection has wide implications for turbulent heating and dissipation in the solar corona, solar wind, and turbulent magnetosheath. In these highly turbulent environments, simultaneous reconnection of multiple magnetic islands occurs, with the statistics of these local events impacting the global system dynamics. By statistics, we mean the number of X-lines reconnecting, their reconnection rates, and the properties upstream of the diffusion region. Our work focuses on exploring the interplay between small-scale local magnetic reconnection and the macroscopic properties of a large turbulent system. To model these properties, we study the time evolution of a large number of reconnection sites embedded in a turbulent 2D MHD system. Our preliminary results reveal a strong correlation between the statistics of reconnecting fields and turbulent magnetic fields, suggesting a fundamental connection between the two. This result could have far-reaching consequences in probing the intermittent nature of the turbulent magnetic field. Our initial findings also suggest that the reconnection rate follows a generalized Sweet-Parker scaling for asymmetric reconnection, as shown in some earlier studies.