Related papers: Electron Acceleration by Multi-Island Coalescence
Magnetic reconnection is an explosive energy release event. It plays an important role in accelerating particles to high non-thermal energies. These particles often exhibit energy spectra characterized by a power-law distribution. However,…
Electron bulk energization in the diffusion region during anti-parallel symmetric reconnection entails two stages. First, the inflowing electrons are adiabatically trapped and energized by an ambipolar parallel electric field. Next, the…
Magnetic reconnection in strongly magnetized (low-beta), weakly collisional plasmas is investigated using a novel fluid-kinetic model [Zocco & Schekochihin, Phys. Plasmas 18, 102309 (2011)] which retains non-isothermal electron kinetics. It…
The 2003 October 28 (X17.2) eruptive flare was a unique event. The coronal electric field and the {\pi}-decay {\gamma}-ray emission flux had the highest values ever inferred in solar flares. This study reveals physical links between the…
Solar flares are known to be prolific electron accelerators, yet identifying the mechanism(s) for such efficient electron acceleration in solar flare (and similar astrophysical settings) presents a major challenge. This is due in part to a…
The results of simulations of magnetic reconnection accompanied by electron and proton heating and energization in a macroscale system are presented. Both species form extended powerlaw distributions that extend nearly three decades in…
Turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and shocks can be present in explosively unstable plasmas, forming a new electromagnetic environment, which we call here turbulent reconnection, and where spontaneous formation of current sheets takes…
The first self-consistent simulations of electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a macroscale system are presented. Consistent with solar flare observations the spectra of energetic electrons take the form of power-laws that…
During solar flares, a large flux of energetic electrons propagate from the tops of reconnecting magnetic flux tubes toward the lower atmosphere. Over the course of the electrons' transport, a co-spatial counter-streaming return current is…
We present a study of the acceleration of electrons at a perpendicular shock that propagates through a turbulent magnetic field. The energization process of electrons is investigated by utilizing a combination of hybrid (kinetic ions and…
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…
Solar flares are one of the most energetic events in the solar atmosphere. It is widely accepted that flares are powered by magnetic reconnection in the corona. An eruptive flare is usually accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, both of…
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…
A major open issue concerning the active Sun is the effectiveness with which magnetic reconnection accelerates electrons in flares. A paper published by {\em{Nature}} in 2022 used microwave observations to conclude that the Sun is an almost…
The dynamics of magnetic reconnection in the solar current sheet (CS) is studied by high-resolution 2.5-dimensional MHD simulation. With the commence of magnetic reconnection, a number of magnetic islands are formed intermittently and move…
Electrons in shocks are efficiently energized due to the cross-shock potential, which develops because of differential deflection of electrons and ions by the magnetic field in the shock front. The electron energization is necessarily…
Magnetic reconnection is a leading mechanism for magnetic energy conversion and high-energy non-thermal particle production in a variety of high-energy astrophysical objects, including ones with relativistic ion-electron plasmas (e.g.,…
The physical processes that control the partition of released magnetic energy between electrons and ions during reconnection is explored through particle-in-cell simulations and analytical techniques. We demonstrate that the development of…
We perform a high-resolution two-dimensional fully-kinetic numerical simulation of a turbulent plasma system with observation-driven conditions, in order to investigate the interplay between turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and particle…
We study a model of particle acceleration coupled with an MHD model of magnetic reconnection in unstable twisted coronal loops. The kink instability leads to the formation of helical currents with strong parallel electric fields resulting…