Ion and Electron Acceleration in Fully Kinetic Plasma Turbulence

Comisso, Luca; Sironi, Lorenzo

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac8422

Title: Ion and Electron Acceleration in Fully Kinetic Plasma Turbulence

Journal Article · Tue Sep 13 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac8422· OSTI ID:1981276

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Columbia University, New York, NY (United States)

Turbulence is often invoked to explain the origin of nonthermal particles in space and astrophysical plasmas. By means of 3D fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate that turbulence in low-β plasmas (β is the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure) accelerates ions and electrons into a nonthermal energy distribution with a power-law energy range. The ion spectrum is harder than the electron one, and both distributions get steeper for higher β. We show that the energization of electrons is accompanied by a significant energy-dependent pitch-angle anisotropy, with most electrons moving parallel to the local magnetic field, while ions stay roughly isotropic. We demonstrate that particle injection from the thermal pool occurs in regions of high current density. Parallel electric fields associated with magnetic reconnection are responsible for the initial energy gain of electrons, whereas perpendicular electric fields control the overall energization of ions. Our findings have important implications for the origin of nonthermal particles in space and astrophysical plasmas.

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Research Organization:: Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0021254; 80NSSC18K1285; PHY-1903412; CHE-2039044

OSTI ID:: 1981276

Journal Information:: The Astrophysical Journal. Letters, Vol. 936, Issue 2; ISSN 2041-8205

Publisher:: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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