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Title: Particle acceleration and plasma dynamics during magnetic reconnection in the magnetically dominated regime

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection is thought to be the driver for many explosive phenomena in the universe. The energy release and particle acceleration during reconnection have been proposed as a mechanism for producing high-energy emissions and cosmic rays. We carry out two- and three-dimensional (3D) kinetic simulations to investigate relativistic magnetic reconnection and the associated particle acceleration. The simulations focus on electron–positron plasmas starting with a magnetically dominated, force-free current sheet (σ ≡ B2 / (4πnemec2) >> 1). For this limit, we demonstrate that relativistic reconnection is highly efficient at accelerating particles through a first-order Fermi process accomplished by the curvature drift of particles along the electric field induced by the relativistic flows. This mechanism gives rise to the formation of hard power-law spectra f α (γ - 1)-p and approaches p = 1 for sufficiently large σ and system size. Eventually most of the available magnetic free energy is converted into nonthermal particle kinetic energy. An analytic model is presented to explain the key results and predict a general condition for the formation of power-law distributions. The development of reconnection in these regimes leads to relativistic inflow and outflow speeds and enhanced reconnection rates relative to nonrelativistic regimes. In the 3Dmore » simulation, the interplay between secondary kink and tearing instabilities leads to strong magnetic turbulence, but does not significantly change the energy conversion, reconnection rate, or particle acceleration. This paper suggests that relativistic reconnection sites are strong sources of nonthermal particles, which may have important implications for a variety of high-energy astrophysical problems.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1240428
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-14-29249
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 806; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; acceleration of particles; magnetic reconnection; relativistic process; gamma-ray bursts: general; galaxies: jets; pulsars: general

Citation Formats

Guo, Fan, Liu, Yi -Hsin, Daughton, William, and Li, Hui. Particle acceleration and plasma dynamics during magnetic reconnection in the magnetically dominated regime. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/167.
Guo, Fan, Liu, Yi -Hsin, Daughton, William, & Li, Hui. Particle acceleration and plasma dynamics during magnetic reconnection in the magnetically dominated regime. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/167
Guo, Fan, Liu, Yi -Hsin, Daughton, William, and Li, Hui. Wed . "Particle acceleration and plasma dynamics during magnetic reconnection in the magnetically dominated regime". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/167. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1240428.
@article{osti_1240428,
title = {Particle acceleration and plasma dynamics during magnetic reconnection in the magnetically dominated regime},
author = {Guo, Fan and Liu, Yi -Hsin and Daughton, William and Li, Hui},
abstractNote = {Magnetic reconnection is thought to be the driver for many explosive phenomena in the universe. The energy release and particle acceleration during reconnection have been proposed as a mechanism for producing high-energy emissions and cosmic rays. We carry out two- and three-dimensional (3D) kinetic simulations to investigate relativistic magnetic reconnection and the associated particle acceleration. The simulations focus on electron–positron plasmas starting with a magnetically dominated, force-free current sheet (σ ≡ B2 / (4πnemec2) >> 1). For this limit, we demonstrate that relativistic reconnection is highly efficient at accelerating particles through a first-order Fermi process accomplished by the curvature drift of particles along the electric field induced by the relativistic flows. This mechanism gives rise to the formation of hard power-law spectra f α (γ - 1)-p and approaches p = 1 for sufficiently large σ and system size. Eventually most of the available magnetic free energy is converted into nonthermal particle kinetic energy. An analytic model is presented to explain the key results and predict a general condition for the formation of power-law distributions. The development of reconnection in these regimes leads to relativistic inflow and outflow speeds and enhanced reconnection rates relative to nonrelativistic regimes. In the 3D simulation, the interplay between secondary kink and tearing instabilities leads to strong magnetic turbulence, but does not significantly change the energy conversion, reconnection rate, or particle acceleration. This paper suggests that relativistic reconnection sites are strong sources of nonthermal particles, which may have important implications for a variety of high-energy astrophysical problems.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/167},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
number = 2,
volume = 806,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 853, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aaa42f

The Roles of Fluid Compression and Shear in Electron Energization during Magnetic Reconnection
journal, March 2018


Particle Acceleration Due to Cosmic-ray Viscosity and Fluid Shear in Astrophysical Jets
journal, March 2018


Two-stage Electron Acceleration by 3D Collisionless Guide-field Magnetic Reconnection
journal, September 2018


Betatron Cooling of Suprathermal Electrons in the Terrestrial Magnetotail
journal, October 2018


Large-scale Compression Acceleration during Magnetic Reconnection in a Low- β Plasma
journal, October 2018


Plasma Energization in Colliding Magnetic Flux Ropes
journal, October 2018


Prompt Emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts from the Wind of Newborn Millisecond Magnetars: A Case Study of GRB 160804A
journal, October 2018


The Dynamical Behavior of Reconnection-driven Termination Shocks in Solar Flares: Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations
journal, December 2018


Particle Acceleration at 5 au Associated with Turbulence and Small-scale Magnetic Flux Ropes
journal, February 2019


The Role of Magnetic Reconnection–associated Processes in Local Particle Acceleration in the Solar Wind
journal, March 2019


Effects of Synchrotron Cooling and Pair Production on Collisionless Relativistic Reconnection
journal, May 2019

  • Hakobyan, Hayk; Philippov, Alexander; Spitkovsky, Anatoly
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 877, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab191b

Particle Acceleration in Kinetic Simulations of Nonrelativistic Magnetic Reconnection with Different Ion–Electron Mass Ratios
journal, June 2019


Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection in Electron–Positron–Proton Plasmas: Implications for Jets of Active Galactic Nuclei
journal, July 2019

  • Petropoulou, Maria; Sironi, Lorenzo; Spitkovsky, Anatoly
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 880, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab287a

Current Sheets, Magnetic Islands, and Associated Particle Acceleration in the Solar Wind as Observed by Ulysses near the Ecliptic Plane
journal, August 2019

  • Malandraki, Olga; Khabarova, Olga; Bruno, Roberto
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 881, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab289a

Relativistic Tearing Mode in Pair Plasmas and Application to Magnetic Giant Flares
journal, July 2019


Exploring the Origin of Multiwavelength Activities of High-redshift Flat-spectrum Radio Quasar PKS 1502+106 during 2014–2018
journal, August 2019


Particle Acceleration by Cosmic Ray Viscosity in Radio-jet Shear Flows
journal, August 2019

  • Webb, G. M.; Al-Nussirat, S.; Mostafavi, P.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 881, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab2fca

Particle Acceleration and Heating in Regions of Magnetic Flux Emergence
journal, September 2019


Formation of Power-law Electron Energy Spectra in Three-dimensional Low- β Magnetic Reconnection
journal, October 2019


The Interplay of Magnetically Dominated Turbulence and Magnetic Reconnection in Producing Nonthermal Particles
journal, November 2019


Large-amplitude Blazar Polarization Angle Swing as a Signature of Magnetic Reconnection
journal, August 2018


Fast Ion Heating in Transient Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection via an Intrinsic Stochastic Mechanism
journal, November 2018


Super-efficient Electron Acceleration by an Isolated Magnetic Reconnection
journal, January 2019


Determining the Dominant Acceleration Mechanism during Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection in Large-scale Systems
journal, July 2019


Relationship between Current Filaments and Turbulence During a Turbulent Reconnection
journal, January 2020


Stochastic Acceleration Model of Gamma-Ray Burst with Decaying Turbulence
text, January 2015


Particle Acceleration during Magnetic Reconnection in a Low-beta Pair Plasma
text, January 2016


Marginally fast cooling synchrotron models for prompt GRBs
text, January 2018


Particle Acceleration and Heating in a Turbulent Solar Corona
text, January 2018


Interpreting Crab Nebula synchrotron spectrum: two acceleration mechanisms
text, January 2018


Inter-Plasmoid Compton Scattering and the Compton Dominance of BL Lacs
text, January 2019


Statistical analysis on X-ray flares from the nucleus and HST-1 knot in the M87 jet
text, January 2019


3D Turbulent Reconnection: Theory, Tests and Astrophysical Implications
text, January 2020