Primary Convener:
Xin An, University of California Los Angeles

Convener:
Stefano Markidis, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Anthony Sciola, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Maria Elena Innocenti, Ruhr University Bochum
Anna Tenerani, The University of Texas at Austin
Gian Luca Delzanno, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Ivan Vasko, University of Texas at Dallas

Early Career Convener:
Sergei Kamaletdinov, University of California Los Angeles

Chair:
Xin An, University of California Los Angeles
Gian Luca Delzanno, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Magnetic reconnection in current sheets represents a fundamental process governing energy conversion and particle acceleration across space plasmas, from solar wind turbulence to magnetospheric dynamics. Despite decades of investigation, key questions remain: How do current sheet configurations influence reconnection initiation? What roles do waves, instabilities, and turbulence play? How does reconnection operate in diverse magnetic geometries? What determines energy partitioning between electrons and ions?

Recent missions provide unprecedented observational constraints on current sheet and reconnection dynamics, challenging theoretical models and simulations. Current sheet stability varies significantly among solar wind, magnetopause, and magnetotail environments, offering comparative laboratories for reconnection studies.

This session integrates theory, simulations, observations, and experiments to advance understanding of magnetic reconnection and current sheet physics. We welcome contributions addressing open problems from microscale kinetic processes to macroscale dynamics across planetary magnetospheres, solar wind, corona, and interstellar environments.

This session honors Giovanni Lapenta's pioneering contributions to magnetic reconnection physics.

Index Terms
2724 Magnetopause and boundary layers
2744 Magnetotail
7526 Magnetic reconnection
7811 Discontinuities
7835 Magnetic reconnection
7845 Particle acceleration
7863 Turbulence
7954 Magnetic storms

Cross-Listed:
SH - SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics

Co-Organized Sessions:
SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics

Neighborhoods:
4. Beyond Earth

Suggested Itineraries:
Space Weather