Electron physics during collisionless reconnection is the priority science target of an upcoming major NASA mission, Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS), for which University of New Hampshire plays a leading role. I will discuss the recent accomplishments of reconnection research at UNH in preparation for MMS, and the current research programs. I will review key electron features in the reconnection diffusion region, and discuss how our recent study of electron orbits leads to a comprehensive picture of electron processes during collisionless magnetic reconnection with negligible guide fields. Central to the dynamics of reconnection diffusion regions is the formation of plasmoids and electron acceleration in plasmoids. Plasmoids generated in the electron diffusion region has intrinsic structures distinct from those generated elsewhere. The above knowledge and understanding was built based on reconnection with two symmetric inflow regions. To address magnetopause reconnection, asymmetries in upstream conditions and an ambient guide magnetic field need to be included. Preliminary results show that the diffusion region structure is qualitatively different from that in symmetric reconnection. I will list the key open questions in both symmetric and asymmetric reconnection.
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