Astrophysical particle acceleration mechanisms in colliding magnetized laser-produced plasmas

Fox, W.; Park, J.; Deng, W.; Fiksel, G.; Spitkovsky, A.; Bhattacharjee, A.

doi:10.1063/1.4993204

Title: Astrophysical particle acceleration mechanisms in colliding magnetized laser-produced plasmas

Journal Article · Fri Aug 11 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4993204· OSTI ID:1440988

^[1]; Park, J. ^[2];

^[2]; Fiksel, G. ^[3]; Spitkovsky, A. ^[2]; Bhattacharjee, A. ^[4]

Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)

Significant particle energization is observed to occur in numerous astrophysical environments, and in the standard models, this acceleration occurs alongside energy conversion processes including collisionless shocks or magnetic reconnection. Recent platforms for laboratory experiments using magnetized laser-produced plasmas have opened opportunities to study these particle acceleration processes in the laboratory. Through fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate acceleration mechanisms in experiments with colliding magnetized laser-produced plasmas, with geometry and parameters matched to recent high-Mach number reconnection experiments with externally controlled magnetic fields. 2-D simulations demonstrate significant particle acceleration with three phases of energization: first, a “direct” Fermi acceleration driven by approaching magnetized plumes; second, x-line acceleration during magnetic reconnection of anti-parallel fields; and finally, an additional Fermi energization of particles trapped in contracting and relaxing magnetic islands produced by reconnection. Furthermore, the relative effectiveness of these mechanisms depends on plasma and magnetic field parameters of the experiments.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0002273; SC0008655; SC0016249

OSTI ID:: 1440988

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1374778

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 9; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 18 works

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