Title: Electron acceleration by parallel and perpendicular electric fields during magnetic reconnection without guide field

Abstract

In this work, electron acceleration due to the electric field parallel to the background magnetic field during magnetic reconnection with no guide field is investigated by theory and two-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations and compared with acceleration due to the electric field perpendicular to the magnetic field. The magnitude of the parallel electric potential shows dependence on the ratio of the plasma frequency to the electron cyclotron frequency as (ω_pe/Ω_e)^-2 and on the background plasma density as _{N$$^{-½}_{b}$$}. In the Earth's magnetotail, the parameter ω_pe/Ω_e~9 and the background (lobe) density can be of the order of 0.01 cm^-3, and it is expected that the parallel electric potential is not large enough to accelerate electrons up to 100 keV. Therefore, we must consider the effect of the perpendicular electric field to account for electron energization in excess of 100 keV in the Earth's magnetotail. Trajectories for high-energy electrons are traced in a simulation to demonstrate that acceleration due to the perpendicular electric field in the diffusion region is the dominant acceleration mechanism, rather than acceleration due to the parallel electric fields in the exhaust regions. For energetic electrons accelerated near the X line due to the perpendicular electric field, pitch angle scattering converts the perpendicular momentum to the parallel momentum. On the other hand, for passing electrons that are mainly accelerated by the parallel electric field, pitch angle scattering converting the parallel momentum to the perpendicular momentum occurs. In this way, particle acceleration and pitch angle scattering will generate heated electrons in the exhaust regions.

Authors:

Bessho, N. ^[1]; Chen, L.‐J. ^[1]; Germaschewski, K. ^[2]; Bhattacharjee, A. ^[3]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
2. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
3. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

Publication Date:

Fri Oct 16 00:00:00 EDT 2015

Research Org.:

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)

Sponsoring Org.:

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

OSTI Identifier:

1565403

Grant/Contract Number:  

AGS-1338944; PHY-0903923; AGS-1202537; AGS-1056898; NNX11AH03G; NNX13AK31G; AGS-1543598; PHY-1229408

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 120; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9380

Publisher:

American Geophysical Union

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; magnetic reconnection; electron acceleration; parallel electric field; perpendicular electric field