Plasma heating, particle acceleration and avalanches in magnetic flux ropes in solar flares

The twisted magnetic flux rope is a fundamental building block of magnetic fields, storing free magnetic energy. I will describe how this energy can be released, focusing on solar flares but also considering spheromaks and spherical tokamaks. Solar flares are the most powerful explosions in the solar system, and are the drivers of space weather. I will describe how the ideal kink instability in a flux rope can trigger magnetic reconnection, releasing magnetic energy, heating the plasma and accelerating charged particles. I will also discuss mergers, leading to oscillatory reconnection, and avalanches involving multiple flux ropes.