Nonthermally Dominated Electron Acceleration during Magnetic Reconnection in a Low-beta Plasma
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
This work was motivated by electron acceleration during solar flares. After some introductory remarks on proposed particle acceleration mechanisms and questions needing answers, dynamic simulations and simulation results are presented including energy spectra and the formation of the power law distribution. In summary, magnetic reconnection is highly efficient at converting the free magnetic energy stored in a magnetic shear and accelerating electrons to nonthermal energies in low-β regime. The nonthermal electrons have a dominant fraction and form power-law energy spectra with spectral index p ~ 1 in low-β regime. Electrons are preferentially accelerated along the curvature drift direction along the electric field induced by the reconnection outflow. The results can be applied to explain the observations of electron acceleration during solar flares.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/LANL
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1196184
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-15-25569
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Plasma Energization: Exchanges between Fluid and Kinetic Scales ; 2015-05-04 - 2015-05-06 ; Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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