Magnetic Energy Release, Plasma Dynamics, and Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection
Abstract
In strongly magnetized astrophysical plasma systems, magnetic reconnection is believed to be the primary process during which explosive energy release and particle acceleration occur, leading to significant high-energy emission. Past years have witnessed active development of kinetic modeling of relativistic magnetic reconnection, supporting this magnetically dominated scenario. A much less explored issue in studies of relativistic reconnection is the consequence of three-dimensional dynamics, where turbulent structures are naturally generated as various types of instabilities develop. This paper presents a series of three-dimensional, fully kinetic simulations of relativistic turbulent magnetic reconnection (RTMR) in positron–electron plasmas with system domains much larger than kinetic scales. Our simulations start from a force-free current sheet with several different modes of long-wavelength magnetic field perturbations, which drive additional turbulence in the reconnection region. Because of this, the current layer breaks up and the reconnection region quickly evolves into a turbulent layer filled with coherent structures such as flux ropes and current sheets. Additionally, we find that plasma dynamics in RTMR is vastly different from its 2D counterpart in many aspects. The flux ropes evolve rapidly after their generation, and can be completely disrupted by the secondary kink instability. This turbulent evolution leads to superdiffusive behavior ofmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[1];
[1];
[3];
[2];
[1];
[4]
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Space Science Inst., Boulder, CO (United States)
- New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM (United States); Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1861295
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-20-26005
Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X; TRN: US2305471
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001; NNH17AE68I; 80NSSC20K0627; 80NSSC18K0289; PHY-1902867
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 919; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Citation Formats
Guo, Fan, Li, Xiaocan, Daughton, William, Li, Hui, Kilian, Patrick, Liu, Yi-Hsin, Zhang, Qile, and Zhang, Haocheng. Magnetic Energy Release, Plasma Dynamics, and Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac0918.
Guo, Fan, Li, Xiaocan, Daughton, William, Li, Hui, Kilian, Patrick, Liu, Yi-Hsin, Zhang, Qile, & Zhang, Haocheng. Magnetic Energy Release, Plasma Dynamics, and Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac0918
Guo, Fan, Li, Xiaocan, Daughton, William, Li, Hui, Kilian, Patrick, Liu, Yi-Hsin, Zhang, Qile, and Zhang, Haocheng. Wed .
"Magnetic Energy Release, Plasma Dynamics, and Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac0918. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1861295.
@article{osti_1861295,
title = {Magnetic Energy Release, Plasma Dynamics, and Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection},
author = {Guo, Fan and Li, Xiaocan and Daughton, William and Li, Hui and Kilian, Patrick and Liu, Yi-Hsin and Zhang, Qile and Zhang, Haocheng},
abstractNote = {In strongly magnetized astrophysical plasma systems, magnetic reconnection is believed to be the primary process during which explosive energy release and particle acceleration occur, leading to significant high-energy emission. Past years have witnessed active development of kinetic modeling of relativistic magnetic reconnection, supporting this magnetically dominated scenario. A much less explored issue in studies of relativistic reconnection is the consequence of three-dimensional dynamics, where turbulent structures are naturally generated as various types of instabilities develop. This paper presents a series of three-dimensional, fully kinetic simulations of relativistic turbulent magnetic reconnection (RTMR) in positron–electron plasmas with system domains much larger than kinetic scales. Our simulations start from a force-free current sheet with several different modes of long-wavelength magnetic field perturbations, which drive additional turbulence in the reconnection region. Because of this, the current layer breaks up and the reconnection region quickly evolves into a turbulent layer filled with coherent structures such as flux ropes and current sheets. Additionally, we find that plasma dynamics in RTMR is vastly different from its 2D counterpart in many aspects. The flux ropes evolve rapidly after their generation, and can be completely disrupted by the secondary kink instability. This turbulent evolution leads to superdiffusive behavior of magnetic field lines as seen in MHD studies of turbulent reconnection. Meanwhile, nonthermal particle acceleration and the timescale for energy release can be very fast and do not depend strongly on the turbulence amplitude. Additionally, the main acceleration mechanism is a Fermi-like acceleration process supported by the motional electric field, whereas the nonideal electric field acceleration plays a subdominant role. We also discuss possible observational implications of three-dimensional RTMR in high-energy astrophysics.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ac0918},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
number = 2,
volume = 919,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 29 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Wed Sep 29 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
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