Characterising magnetic field structure across scales - X and O point detection in three dimensions

Reconnection and dynamo are fundamentally opposite plasma processes - reconnection describing the conversion of magnetic energy density into kinetic, and dynamo conversion of kinetic energy density into magnetic. Both processes however do share a similarity in that they change the underlying topology of the magnetic field. Utilising the structure of the magnetic field via the gradient tensor of the vector potential, magnetic field itself, or current density, one can identify and characterise objects like O and X points which can be used to directly probe the local properties of a reconnecting region in a turbulent plasma, or associate global properties, like integral magnetic energy growth, with specific local regions in the plasma. In this project, we will develop a method for characterising such topologies in 2D and 3D turbulent MHD plasma, relevant to the interstellar medium, and test fundamental questions about the nature of reconnection in such a regime. This will have significant implications for understanding the very nature of MHD turbulence in our Galaxy, and the role that reconnection may play.