Energy conversion and magnetic reconnection in space plasmas: Role of nonlinear kinetic processes and structures

Dynamics of plasma systems in space involves processes of large-scale energy conversion. Like in conventional gas dynamics, the conversion can occur on shocks. However, in collisionless magnetized plasma systems, quite different nonlinear structures may be responsible for energy conversion. Those are anisotropic kinetic current sheets. It is demonstrated that observations at the Earth’s magnetopause provide evidence of long-term existence of such structures.