Related papers: Particle interactions with single or multiple 3D s…
The theoretical prediction that magnetic reconnection spontaneously drives turbulence has been supported by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and kinetic simulations. While reconnection with externally driven turbulence is accepted as an effective…
Magnetic reconnection, a plasma process converting magnetic energy to particle kinetic energy, is often invoked to explain magnetic energy releases powering high-energy flares in astrophysical sources including pulsar wind nebulae and black…
The energy released during solar flares is believed to be stored in non-potential magnetic fields associated with electric currents flowing in the corona. While no measurements of coronal electric currents are presently available, maps of…
We establish a classification scheme for stochastic acceleration models involving low-frequency plasma turbulence in a strongly magnetized plasma. This classification takes into account both the properties of the accelerating…
Energetic electrons of up to tens of MeV are created during explosive phenomena in the solar corona. While many theoretical models consider magnetic reconnection as a possible way of generating energetic electrons, the precise roles of…
Using analytical and numerical methods (fluid and particle-in-cell simulations) we study a number of model problems involving merger of magnetic flux tubes in relativistic magnetically-dominated plasma. Mergers of current-carrying flux…
X-ray observations are a direct diagnostic of fast electrons produced in solar flares, energized during the energy release process and directed towards the Sun. Since the properties of accelerated electrons can be substantially changed…
We report a newly found two-stage mechanism of electron acceleration near X-lines of 3D collisionless guide-field magnetic reconnection in the non-relativistic regime typical, e.g., for stellar coronae. We found that after electrons are…
Solar flare electron acceleration is an efficient process, but its properties (mechanism, location) are not well constrained. Via hard X-ray (HXR) emission, we routinely observe energetic electrons at the Sun, and sometimes we detect…
The acceleration of solar flare ions during magnetic reconnection is explored via particle-in-cell simulations that self-consistently follow the motions of both protons and $\alpha$ particles. We demonstrate that the dominant ion heating…
Particles are accelerated to very high, non-thermal energies during explosive energy-release phenomena in space, solar, and astrophysical plasma environments. In the case of solar flares, it has been established that magnetic reconnection…
Powerful stellar winds and supernova explosions with intense energy release in the form of strong shock waves can convert a sizeable part of the kinetic energy release into energetic particles. The starforming regions are argued as a…
Partially-ionized plasmas consist of charged and neutral particles whose mutual collisions modify magnetic reconnection compared with the fully-ionized case. The collisions alter the rate and locations of the magnetic dissipation heating…
An explicitly energy-conserving full orbit code CUEBIT, developed originally to describe energetic particle effects in laboratory fusion experiments, has been applied to the problem of proton acceleration in solar flares. The model fields…
The effect of the absorption of hard X-ray photons on the solid-state dynamics, at energies below the defect creation threshold, is considered. First, it is shown that due to the sensitivity to parameter choices, the present state of the…
We use large hybrid (kinetic protons-fluid electrons) simulations to investigate the transport of energetic particles in self-consistent electromagnetic configurations of collisionless shocks. In previous papers of this series, we showed…
The acceleration of charged particles in magnetized plasmas is considered during turbulent multi-island magnetic reconnection. The particle acceleration model is constructed for an ensemble of islands which produce adiabatic compression of…
The model of stochastic acceleration of particles by turbulence has been successful in explaining many observed features of solar flares. Here we demonstrate a new method to obtain the accelerated electron spectrum and important…
We present a first-principles model of pitch-angle and energy distribution function evolution as particles are sequentially accelerated by multiple flare magnetic islands. Data from magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of an eruptive…
It is shown that the energy of protons accelerated in laser-matter interaction experiments may be significantly increased through the process of splitting the incoming laser pulse into multiple interaction stages of equal intensity. From a…