Magnetic Reconnection in Solar Flares and the Near-Sun Solar Wind

An overview is presented of our current understanding and open questions related to magnetic reconnection in solar flares and the near-sun (within around 20Rs) solar wind. The solar-flare-related topics include the mechanisms that facilitate fast energy release and that control flare onset, electron energization, ion energization and abundance enhancement, electron and ion transport, and flare-driven heating. Recent observations and models suggesting that interchange reconnection of multipolar magnetic fields within coronal holes could provide the energy required to drive the fast solar wind are also discussed. Recent in situ observations that reconnection in the heliospheric current sheet close to the sun drives energetic ions are also presented. The implications of in situ observations of reconnection in the Earth space environment for understanding flares are highlighted. Finally, the impact of emerging computational and observational tools for understanding flare dynamics are discussed.