Related papers: Physics of collisionless reconnection in a stresse…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous astrophysical process that rapidly converts magnetic energy into some combination of plasma flow energy, thermal energy, and non-thermal energetic particles, including energetic electrons. Various…
Magnetic reconnection and non-thermal particle distributions associated with current-driven instabilities are investigated by means of resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations combined with relativistic test particle methods. We…
Magnetic reconnection is best known from observations of the Sun where it causes solar flares. Observations estimate the reconnection rate a small, but non-negligible fraction of the Alfv\'en speed, so-called fast reconnection. Until…
To investigate the impact of current sheet motion on the reconnection process, we perform resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of two closely located reconnection sites which move apart from each other as reconnection develops.…
Hybrid-Vlasov-Maxwell simulations of magnetized plasma turbulence including non-linear electron-inertia effects in a generalized Ohm's law are presented. When fluctuation energy is injected on scales sufficiently close to ion-kinetic…
A new fully kinetic system is proposed for modeling collisionless magnetic reconnection. The formulation relies on fundamental principles in Lagrangian dynamics, in which the inertia of the electron mean flow is neglected in the expression…
Oscillatory reconnection is a specific type of time-dependent reconnection which involves periodic changes in the magnetic topology of a null point. The mechanism has been reported for a variety of magnetic field strengths and…
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…
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory and simulations have shown that reconnection is triggered via a fast "ideal" tearing instability in current sheets whose inverse aspect ratio decreases to $a/L\sim S^{-1/3}$, with $S$ is the Lundquist number…
For magnetic reconnection to proceed, the frozen-in condition for both ion fluid and electron fluid in a localized diffusion region must be violated by inertial effects, thermal pressure effects, or inter-species collisions. It has been…
We develop a first-principles model for the relativistic magnetic reconnection rate in strongly magnetized pair plasmas. By considering the energy budget and required current density near the x-line, we analytically show that in the…
In strongly magnetized astrophysical plasma systems, magnetic reconnection is believed to be a primary process during which explosive energy release and particle acceleration occur, leading to significant high-energy emission. Past years…
We perform 3D relativistic ideal MHD simulations to study the collisions between high-$\sigma$ (Poynting-flux-dominated) blobs which contain both poloidal and toroidal magnetic field components. This is meant to mimic the interactions…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental mechanism of driving eruptive phenomena of different scales and may be coupled with turbulence as suggested by recent remote-sensing and in-situ observations. However, the specific physics behind the…
The manner in which the rate of magnetic reconnection scales with the Lundquist number in realistic three-dimensional (3D) geometries is still an unsolved problem. It has been demonstrated that in 2D rapid non-linear tearing allows the…
Non-thermal electron acceleration via magnetic reconnection is thought to play an important role in powering the variable X-ray emission from radiatively inefficient accretion flows around black holes. The trans-relativistic regime of…
Relativistic magnetic reconnection is a key mechanism for dissipating magnetic energy and accelerating particles in astrophysics. In the absence of radiative cooling, recent particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations have shown that high-energy…
Kinetic simulations of 3D collisionless magnetic reconnection with a guide field show a dramatic enhancement of energetic electron production when compared with 2D systems. In the 2D systems, electrons are trapped in magnetic islands that…
Electrons are accelerated to high, non-thermal energies during explosive energy-release events in space, such as magnetic reconnection. However, the properties and acceleration mechanisms of relativistic electrons directly associated with…
The role of null-point reconnection in a 3D numerical MHD model of solar emerging flux is investigated. The model consists of a twisted magnetic flux tube rising through a stratified convection zone and atmosphere to interact and reconnect…