Power of Turbulent Reconnection: Star Formation, Acceleration of Cosmic Rays, Heat Transfer, Flares and Gamma Ray Bursts

Abstract: Turbulence is ubiquitous in astrophysical fluids. Therefore it is necessary to study magnetic reconnection in turbulent environments. The model of fast turbulent reconnection proposed in Lazarian & Vishniac 1999 has been successfully tested numerically and it suggests numerous astrophysical implications. Those include a radically new possibility of removing magnetic field from collapsing clouds which we termed "reconnection diffusion", acceleration of cosmic rays within shrinking filaments of reconnected magnetic fields, flares of reconnection, from solar flares to much stronger ones which can account for gamma ray bursts. In addition, the model reveals a very intimate relation between magnetic reconnection and properties of strong turbulence, explaining how turbulent eddies can transport heat in magnetized plasmas. This is a small fraction the astrophysical implications of the quantitative insight into the fundamental process of magnetic reconnection in turbulent media.