Biography

Tak Chu Li is a research scientist in theoretical and computational plasma physics. Her primary research interests are plasma turbulence and magnetic reconnection. These two fundamental processes operate ubiquitously in the universe and often in conjunction. Plasma turbulence governs the flow of energy from large injection scale to small kinetic scales in a range of space and astrophysical systems. It provides a pathway for plasma heating in the heliosphere, the plasma medium that permeates our solar system, and energy transport in accretion disks. Magnetic reconnection is a process that converts magnetic energy to plasma kinetic and thermal energy. It is believed to drive the tremendous energy release in solar and stellar flares, heating the solar corona, and triggering geomagnetic storms in the Earth's magnetosphere, leading to stunning aurorae. Using massively parallel numerical simulations and analytic theory, Tak Chu Li's current research focuses on understanding the fundamental physics underlying plasma turbulence and magnetic reconnection in heliospheric systems of interests, including the solar corona, solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere.

Selected publications:

Yi Qi, Tak Chu Li, C. T. Russell, et. al., "Magnetic Flux Transport Identification of Active Reconnection: MMS Observations in the Earth's Magnetosphere," ApJL, 926, L34, 2022

Tak Chu Li, Yi-Hsin Liu, and Yi Qi, "Identification of Active Magnetic Reconnection Using Magnetic Flux Transport in Plasma Turbulence," ApJL, 909, L28, 2021

Tak Chu Li, Yi-Hsin Liu, M. Hesse and Y. Zou, "Three-Dimensional X-line Spreading in Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection," J. Geophys. Res. , 125, e2019JA027094, 2020

Tak Chu Li, G. G. Howes and K. G. Klein, Yi-Hsin Liu, et. al., "Collisionless energy transfer in kinetic turbulence: field-particle correlations in Fourier space," J. Plasma Phys., 85, 905850406, 2019

Tak Chu Li, G. G. Howes, K. G. Klein and J. M. TenBarge, "Energy Dissipation and Landau Damping in Two- and Three-Dimensional Plasma Turbulence," ApJL, 832, L24, 2016

T. C. Li, J. F. Drake and M. Swisdak, "Suppression of energetic electron transport in flares by double layers," ApJ , 757, 20, 2012