Related papers: A Flux Rope Network and Particle Acceleration in T…
We analyze particle acceleration in explosive reconnection events in magnetically dominated proton-electron plasmas. Reconnection is driven by large-scale magnetic stresses in interacting current-carrying flux tubes. Our model relies on…
We study the role of the guide field in relativistic magnetic reconnection in a Harris current sheet of pair ($e^{\pm}$) plasmas, using linear theories and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Two-dimensional PIC simulations exhibit the…
Understanding plasma dynamics and nonthermal particle acceleration in 3D magnetic reconnection has been a long-standing challenge. In this paper, we explore these problems by performing large-scale fully kinetic simulations of multi-xline…
We investigate magnetic-energy dissipation, current-sheet dynamics, and nonthermal particle acceleration in three-dimensional relativistic reconnection in an electron--ion plasma with a realistic mass ratio. Using particle-in-cell…
Magnetic reconnection is an important driver of energetic particles in many astrophysical phenomena. Using kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we explore the impact of three-dimensional reconnection dynamics on the efficiency of…
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…
Magnetic flux ropes are ubiquitous magnetic structures found in plasmas ranging from astrophysical to laboratory. We employ a newly-developed parallel-kinetic-perpendicular-moment (PKPM) model to simulate the 3D interaction and evolution of…
The linear and non-linear evolution of a relativistic current sheet of pair ($e^{\pm}$) plasmas is investigated by three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. In a Harris configuration, it is obtained that the magnetic energy is fast…
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…
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…
We present 2D and 3D Particle-in-Cell simulations of driven collisionless magnetic reconnection triggered by the compression and merger of two Lundquist-type force-free flux tubes in a strongly magnetized pair plasma, with a focus on…
The relaxation of field-line tension during magnetic reconnection gives rise to a universal Fermi acceleration process involving the curvature drift of particles. However, the efficiency of this mechanism is limited by the trapping of…
The discovery of rapid synchrotron gamma-ray flares above 100 MeV from the Crab Nebula has attracted new interest in alternative particle acceleration mechanisms in pulsar wind nebulae. Diffuse shock-acceleration fails to explain the flares…
We study linear and nonlinear development of relativistic and ultrarelativistic current sheets of pair plasmas with antiparallel magnetic fields. Two types of two-dimensional problems are investigated by particle-in-cell simulations. First,…
Magnetic reconnection is thought to be the driver for many explosive phenomena in the universe. The energy release and particle acceleration during reconnection have been proposed as a mechanism for producing high-energy emissions and…
We investigate the acceleration and transport of electrons in the highly fine-structured current sheet that develops during magnetic flux rope (MFR) eruptions. Our work combines ultra-resolved MHD simulations of MFR eruption, with…
We use 3D fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations to study the occurrence of magnetic reconnection in a simulation of decaying turbulence created by anisotropic counter-propagating low-frequency Alfv\'en waves consistent with…
We present large scale 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to examine particle energization in magnetic reconnection of relativistic electron-positron (pair) plasmas. The initial configuration is set up as a relativistic Harris…
Fast reconnection in magnetically dominated plasmas is widely invoked in models of dissipation in pulsar winds, gamma-ray flares in the Crab nebula, and to explain the radio nanoshots of pulsars. When current sheets evolve reaching a…
Magnetic reconnection is invoked as one of the primary mechanisms to produce energetic particles. We employ large-scale three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations of reconnection in magnetically-dominated ($\sigma=10$) pair plasmas…