Authors: Hasan Barbhuiya (West Virginia University), Paul Cassak (West Virginia University)

Energy conversion in collisionless space plasmas has garnered significant attention in recent years. Kinetic effects in these systems give rise to distribution functions that deviate from a Maxwellian. An influential factor contributing to plasma heating/cooling in such systems is the pressure-strain interaction, which describes the conversion between bulk and thermal energy densities. We examine the temporal evolution of electron and ion pressure-strain interaction, along with its decompositions [Y. Yang et al., Phys. Plasmas, 24, 072306 (2017); Cassak & Barbhuiya, Phys. Plasmas 29, 122306 (2022); Cassak, Barbhuiya & Weldon, Phys. Plasmas 29, 122307 (2022)] qualitatively and quantitatively in a 2D reconnecting system as it transitions from the onset phase to a steady-state phase. We show there are links between the reconnection phase and decompositions of the pressure-strain interaction. Consequently, these signatures may serve as a proxy for determining the reconnection phase through single spacecraft measurements