Nonthermally dominated electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a low-β plasma

Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui; Li, Gang

doi:10.1088/2041-8205/811/2/L24

Title: Nonthermally dominated electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a low-β plasma

Journal Article · Thu Sep 24 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/811/2/L24· OSTI ID:1227724

Li, Xiaocan ^[1]; Guo, Fan ^[2]; Li, Hui ^[2]; Li, Gang ^[1]

Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

By means of fully kinetic simulations, we investigate electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a nonrelativistic proton–electron plasma with conditions similar to solar corona and flares. We demonstrate that reconnection leads to a nonthermally dominated electron acceleration with a power-law energy distribution in the nonrelativistic low-β regime but not in the high-β regime, where β is the ratio of the plasma thermal pressure and the magnetic pressure. The accelerated electrons contain most of the dissipated magnetic energy in the low-β regime. A guiding-center current description is used to reveal the role of electron drift motions during the bulk nonthermal energization. We find that the main acceleration mechanism is a Fermi-type acceleration accomplished by the particle curvature drift motion along the electric field induced by the reconnection outflows. Although the acceleration mechanism is similar for different plasma β, low-β reconnection drives fast acceleration on Alfvénic timescales and develops power laws out of thermal distribution. Thus, the nonthermally dominated acceleration resulting from magnetic reconnection in low-β plasma may have strong implications for the highly efficient electron acceleration in solar flares and other astrophysical systems.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396

OSTI ID:: 1227724

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-15-23232

Journal Information:: The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), Vol. 811, Issue 2; ISSN 2041-8213

Publisher:: Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 74 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (48)

Fast magnetic reconnection in low-density electron-positron plasmas Bessho, Naoki; Bhattacharjee, A. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3488963	journal	October 2010
Geospace Environmental Modeling (GEM) Magnetic Reconnection Challenge Birn, J.; Drake, J. F.; Shay, M. A. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 106, Issue A3 https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JA900449	journal	March 2001
Cosmic Ray Origins: An Introduction Blandford, Roger; Simeon, Paul; Yuan, Yajie Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements, Vol. 256-257 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2014.10.002	journal	November 2014
Ultrahigh performance three-dimensional electromagnetic relativistic kinetic plasma simulation Bowers, K. J.; Albright, B. J.; Yin, L. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 15, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2840133	journal	May 2008
The origin of the magnetic fields of the universe: The plasma astrophysics of the free energy of the universe Colgate, Stirling A.; Li, Hui; Pariev, Vladimir Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 8, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1351827	journal	May 2001
The mechanisms of electron heating and acceleration during magnetic reconnection Dahlin, J. T.; Drake, J. F.; Swisdak, M. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4894484	journal	September 2014
The unstable eigenmodes of a neutral sheet Daughton, William Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 6, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.873374	journal	April 1999
Transition from collisional to kinetic regimes in large-scale reconnection layers Daughton, W.; Roytershteyn, V.; Albright, B. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.065004	journal	August 2009
A Magnetic Reconnection Mechanism for the Generation of Anomalous Cosmic rays Drake, J. F.; Opher, M.; Swisdak, M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 709, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/709/2/963	journal	January 2010
Electron acceleration from contracting magnetic islands during reconnection Drake, J. F.; Swisdak, M.; Che, H. Nature, Vol. 443, Issue 7111 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05116	journal	October 2006
On the Origin of the Cosmic Radiation Fermi, Enrico Physical Review, Vol. 75, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.75.1169	journal	April 1949
Fermi and betatron acceleration of suprathermal electrons behind dipolarization fronts: FERMI VERSUS BETATRON BEHIND DF Fu, H. S.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; André, M. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 38, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL048528	journal	August 2011
The process of electron acceleration during collisionless magnetic reconnection Fu, X. R.; Lu, Q. M.; Wang, S. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 13, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2164808	journal	January 2006
Structured coronae of accretion disks Galeev, A. A.; Rosner, R.; Vaiana, G. S. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 229 https://doi.org/10.1086/156957	journal	April 1979
Particle Acceleration at a Flare Termination Shock: Effect of Large-Scale Magnetic Turbulence Guo, Fan; Giacalone, Joe The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 753, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/753/1/28	journal	June 2012
Formation of Hard Power Laws in the Energetic Particle Spectra Resulting from Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection Guo, Fan; Li, Hui; Daughton, William Physical Review Letters, Vol. 113, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.155005	journal	October 2014
Particle Acceleration and Plasma Dynamics During Magnetic Reconnection in the Magnetically Dominated Regime Guo, Fan; Liu, Yi-Hsin; Daughton, William The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 806, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/167	journal	June 2015
A model for the X-ray and ultraviolet emission from Seyfert galaxies and galactic black holes Haardt, Francesco; Maraschi, Laura; Ghisellini, Gabriele The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 432 https://doi.org/10.1086/187520	journal	September 1994
Electron surfing acceleration in magnetic reconnection Hoshino, M. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 110, Issue A10 https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JA011229	journal	January 2005
Suprathermal electron acceleration in magnetic reconnection Hoshino, M.; Mukai, T.; Terasawa, T. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 106, Issue A11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JA900052	journal	November 2001
The mechanisms of electron acceleration in antiparallel and guide field magnetic reconnection Huang, Can; Lu, Quanming; Wang, Shui Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3457930	journal	July 2010
Electron acceleration in the dipolarization front driven by magnetic reconnection: Electron acceleration in the DF Huang, Can; Wu, Mingyu; Lu, Quanming Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 120, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JA020918	journal	March 2015
Electron acceleration in the reconnection diffusion region: Cluster observations: ELECTRON ACCELERATION OBSERVATIONS Huang, S. Y.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051946	journal	June 2012
Particle Acceleration in Turbulence and Weakly Stochastic Reconnection Kowal, Grzegorz; de Gouveia Dal Pino, Elisabete M.; Lazarian, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.241102	journal	June 2012
Particle Densities Within the Acceleration Region of a Solar Flare Krucker, Säm; Battaglia, Marina The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 780, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/780/1/107	journal	December 2013
Measurements of the Coronal Acceleration Region of a Solar Flare Krucker, Säm; Hudson, H. S.; Glesener, L. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 714, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/714/2/1108	journal	April 2010
Electron Acceleration and the Production of Nonthermal Electron Distributions in Accretion Disk Coronae Li, Hui; Miller, James A. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 478, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/310560	journal	April 1997
Energy Release and Particle Acceleration in Flares: Summary and Future Prospects Lin, R. P. Space Science Reviews, Vol. 159, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-011-9801-0	journal	July 2011
Non-thermal processes in large solar flares Lin, R. P.; Hudson, H. S. Solar Physics, Vol. 50, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00206199	journal	January 1976
Plasmoid Ejections and loop Contractions in an Eruptive m7.7 Solar Flare: Evidence of Particle Acceleration and Heating in Magnetic Reconnection Outflows Liu, Wei; Chen, Qingrong; Petrosian, Vahé The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 767, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/767/2/168	journal	April 2013
Bifurcated Structure of the Electron Diffusion Region in Three-Dimensional Magnetic Reconnection Liu, Yi-Hsin; Daughton, W.; Karimabadi, H. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.265004	journal	June 2013
Scaling of Magnetic Reconnection in Relativistic Collisionless Pair Plasmas Liu, Yi-Hsin; Guo, Fan; Daughton, William Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.095002	journal	March 2015
A loop-top hard X-ray source in a compact solar flare as evidence for magnetic reconnection Masuda, S.; Kosugi, T.; Hara, H. Nature, Vol. 371, Issue 6497 https://doi.org/10.1038/371495a0	journal	October 1994
Stochastic Electron Acceleration by Cascading Fast Mode Waves in Impulsive Solar Flares Miller, James A.; Larosa, T. N.; Moore, R. L. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 461 https://doi.org/10.1086/177072	journal	April 1996
Particle Acceleration at Quasi-Parallel Shock Waves: Theory and Observations at 1 au Neergaard Parker, L.; Zank, G. P. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 757, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/757/1/97	journal	September 2012
Evidence for Electron Acceleration up to $\sim 300 k e V$ in the Magnetic Reconnection Diffusion Region of Earth’s Magnetotail Øieroset, M.; Lin, R. P.; Phan, T. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.195001	journal	October 2002
Electron Energy Partition in the Above-The-Looptop Solar hard X-Ray Sources Oka, Mitsuo; Krucker, Säm; Hudson, Hugh S. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 799, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/799/2/129	journal	January 2015
Electron Acceleration by Multi-Island Coalescence Oka, M.; Phan, T. -D.; Krucker, S. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 714, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/714/1/915	journal	April 2010
Newtonian Development of the Dynamical Properties of Ionized Gases of Low Density Parker, E. N. Physical Review, Vol. 107, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.107.924	journal	August 1957
Magnetic Reconnection Priest, Eric; Forbes, Terry https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511525087	book	October 2009
Relativistic electron production during guide field magnetic reconnection Pritchett, P. L. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 111, Issue A10 https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JA011793	journal	January 2006
Generation of Suprathermal Electrons during Magnetic Reconnection at the Sawtooth Crash and Disruption Instability in the T-10 Tokamak Savrukhin, P. V. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3036	journal	April 2001
“Illuminating” electron diffusion regions of collisionless magnetic reconnection using electron agyrotropy: ELECTRON DIFFUSION REGION AND AGYROTROPY Scudder, Jack; Daughton, William Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 113, Issue A6 https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JA013035	journal	June 2008
Relativistic Reconnection: an Efficient Source of Non-Thermal Particles Sironi, Lorenzo; Spitkovsky, Anatoly The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 783, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/783/1/L21	journal	February 2014
Fermi Acceleration at the Fast Shock in a Solar Flare and the Impulsive Loop-Top Hard X-Ray Source Tsuneta, Saku; Naito, Tsuguya The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 495, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/311207	journal	March 1998
Particle Acceleration via Reconnection Processes in the Supersonic Solar wind Zank, G. P.; le Roux, J. A.; Webb, G. M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 797, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/797/1/28	journal	November 2014
The Generation of Nonthermal Particles in the Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection of Pair Plasmas Zenitani, S.; Hoshino, M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 562, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/337972	journal	November 2001
The Internal-Collision-Induced Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence (Icmart) Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts Zhang, Bing; Yan, Huirong The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 726, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/726/2/90	journal	December 2010

Cited By (25)

Effects of Cross‐Sheet Density and Temperature Inhomogeneities on Magnetotail Reconnection Lu, San; Artemyev, A. V.; Angelopoulos, V. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl081420	journal	January 2019
Particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a low-beta pair plasma Guo, Fan; Li, Hui; Daughton, William Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4948284	journal	May 2016
Impact of compressibility and a guide field on Fermi acceleration during magnetic island coalescence Montag, P.; Egedal, J.; Lichko, E. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4985302	journal	June 2017
Astrophysical particle acceleration mechanisms in colliding magnetized laser-produced plasmas Fox, W.; Park, J.; Deng, W. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4993204	journal	September 2017
Magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetotail: Energy conversion and its earthward–tailward asymmetry Lu, San; Pritchett, P. L.; Angelopoulos, V. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016435	journal	January 2018
Particle-in-cell simulations of magnetically driven reconnection using laser-powered capacitor coils Huang, Kai; Lu, Quanming; Gao, Lan Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5021147	journal	May 2018
Formation of power law spectra of energetic electrons during multiple X line magnetic reconnection with a guide field Lu, Quanming; Wang, Huanyu; Huang, Kai Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5034012	journal	July 2018
Role of magnetic field curvature in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence Yang, Yan; Wan, Minping; Matthaeus, William H. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5099360	journal	July 2019
Magnetic reconnection: from the Sweet–Parker model to stochastic plasmoid chains Loureiro, N. F.; Uzdensky, D. A. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 58, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/58/1/014021	journal	November 2015
The Properties of Reconnection Current Sheets in GRMHD Simulations of Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows Ball, David; Özel, Feryal; Psaltis, Dimitrios The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 853, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaa42f	journal	February 2018
The Roles of Fluid Compression and Shear in Electron Energization during Magnetic Reconnection Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 855, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaacd5	journal	March 2018
Two-stage Electron Acceleration by 3D Collisionless Guide-field Magnetic Reconnection Muñoz, P. A.; Büchner, J. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 864, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aad5e9	journal	September 2018
Self-consistent Energetic Particle Acceleration by Contracting and Reconnecting Small-scale Flux Ropes: The Governing Equations le Roux, J. A.; Zank, G. P.; Khabarova, O. V. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 864, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aad8b3	journal	September 2018
Large-scale Compression Acceleration during Magnetic Reconnection in a Low- β Plasma Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 866, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aae07b	journal	October 2018
Plasma Energization in Colliding Magnetic Flux Ropes Du, Senbei; Guo, Fan; Zank, Gary P. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 867, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aae30e	journal	October 2018
Turbulence and Particle Acceleration in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection: Effects of Temperature Inhomogeneity across Pre-reconnection Current Sheet Lu, San; Angelopoulos, V.; Artemyev, A. V. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 878, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab1f6b	journal	June 2019
Particle Acceleration in Kinetic Simulations of Nonrelativistic Magnetic Reconnection with Different Ion–Electron Mass Ratios Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 879, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab223b	journal	June 2019
Formation of Power-law Electron Energy Spectra in Three-dimensional Low- β Magnetic Reconnection Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 884, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab4268	journal	October 2019
Modeling Energetic Particle Acceleration and Transport in a Solar Wind Region with Contracting and Reconnecting Small-scale Flux Ropes at Earth Orbit Le Roux, J. A.; Webb, G. M.; Khabarova, O. V. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 887, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab521f	journal	December 2019
A Comprehensive Comparison of Relativistic Particle Integrators Ripperda, B.; Bacchini, F.; Teunissen, J. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 235, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/aab114	journal	March 2018
Energetic Electron Acceleration in Unconfined Reconnection Jets Chen, G.; Fu, H. S.; Zhang, Y. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 881, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab3041	journal	August 2019
Relationship between Current Filaments and Turbulence During a Turbulent Reconnection Chen, Z. Z.; Wang, T. Y.; Yu, Y. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 888, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab61fe	journal	January 2020
Particle Acceleration during Magnetic Reconnection in a Low-beta Pair Plasma Guo, Fan; Li, Hui; Daughton, William arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1604.02924	text	January 2016
Two-stage electron acceleration by 3D collisionless guide field magnetic reconnection Muñoz, P. A.; Büchner, J. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1705.01066	text	January 2017
Particle acceleration in kinetic simulations of non-relativistic magnetic reconnection with different ion-electron mass ratio Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1905.08797	text	January 2019

Similar Records

NONTHERMALLY DOMINATED ELECTRON ACCELERATION DURING MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN A LOW-β PLASMA

Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal Letters · OSTI ID:1227724

Li, Xiaocan; Li, Gang; Guo, Fan; +1 more

Nonthermally Dominated Electron Acceleration during Magnetic Reconnection in a Low-beta Plasma

Conference · Tue Jul 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · OSTI ID:1227724

Li, Xiaocan

Efficient production of high-energy nonthermal particles during magnetic reconnection in a magnetically dominated ion-electron plasma

Journal Article · Wed Feb 03 00:00:00 EST 2016 · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online) · OSTI ID:1227724

Guo, Fan; Li, Xiaocan; Li, Hui; +6 more

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
acceleration of particles
magnetic reconnection
sun flares
sun corona

Title: Nonthermally dominated electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a low-β plasma

Citation Formats

References (48)

Cited By (25)

Similar Records

Related Subjects