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Electron and proton acceleration in three-dimensional electric and magnetic fields is studied through test particle simulations. The fields are obtained by a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation of magnetic reconnection in slab…

Astrophysics · Physics 2008-11-26 Marco Onofri , Heinz Isliker , Loukas Vlahos

We present 3D simulations of semirelativistic collisionless magnetic reconnection, where upstream ions are subrelativistic while electrons are ultrarelativistic. We employ the realistic proton-to-electron mass ratio and explore a range of…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-09-03 Fabio Bacchini , Gregory R. Werner , Camille Granier , Jesse Vos

Magnetic reconnection is an explosive process that accelerates particles to high energies in Earth's magnetosphere, offering a unique natural laboratory to study this phenomenon. This study investigates how well data-driven fully kinetic…

Space Physics · Physics 2026-02-18 Nadja Reisinger , Fabio Bacchini

Turbulent behavior at sub-proton scales in magnetized plasmas is important for a full understanding of the energetics of astrophysical flows such as the solar wind. We study the formation of electron temperature anisotropy due to…

Space Physics · Physics 2015-06-15 Christopher T. Haynes , David Burgess , Enrico Camporeale

Plasmoid instability is usually accounted for the onset of fast reconnection events observed in astrophysical plasmas. However, the measured reconnection rate from observations can be one order of magnitude higher than that derived from MHD…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2024-07-03 Abdullah Zafar , Lei Ni , Jun Lin , Ahmad Ali

The interplay between kinetic and macroscopic scales during magnetic reconnection is investigated using particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic island coalescence in the strongly-magnetized, relativistic pair plasma regime. For large…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-11-21 Alexander Velberg , Adam Stanier , Xiaocan Li , Fan Guo , William Daughton , Nuno F. Loureiro

Relativistic magnetic reconnection is a key process for accelerating charged particles and producing high-energy radiation. We study this process using relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations. Starting with Harris sheet…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-06-23 Harihar Pradhan , Kirit D Makwana , Bart Ripperda

Magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process associated with a rapid dissipation of magnetic energy, is believed to power many disruptive phenomena in laboratory plasma devices, the Earth magnetosphere, and the solar corona.…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-05-19 Dmitri A. Uzdensky , Jonathan C. McKinney

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…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-01-15 Ian Bowyer , Dimitrios Giannios , Lorenzo Sironi

Particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection is a long-standing topic in space, solar and astrophysical plasmas. Recent 3D particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic reconnection show that particles can leave flux ropes due to 3D…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2022-07-20 Grant Johnson , Patrick Kilian , Fan Guo , Xiaocan Li

Magnetic reconnection is a process that converts magnetic energy into plasma energy by changing the magnetic field line topology. The outstanding question is why the reconnection rate is $\mathcal{O}(0.01 - 0.1)$ in many astrophysical…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-07-17 Keita Akutagawa , Shinsuke Imada , Munehito Shoda

We develop a model of particle acceleration in explosive reconnection events in relativistic magnetically-dominated plasmas and apply it to explain gamma-ray flares from the Crab Nebula. The model relies on development of current-driven…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2018-05-28 Maxim Lyutikov , Lorenzo Sironi , Sergey Komissarov , Oliver Porth

We present the results of 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations that explore relativistic magnetic reconnection in pair plasma with strong synchrotron cooling and a small mass fraction of non-radiating ions. Our results demonstrate that the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-10-03 Alexander Chernoglazov , Hayk Hakobyan , Alexander A. Philippov

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 and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-09-29 Xiaocan Li , Fan Guo , Hui Li , Gang Li

Due to its ubiquitous presence, turbulence is often invoked to explain the origin of nonthermal particles in astrophysical sources of high-energy emission. With particle-in-cell simulations, we study decaying turbulence in…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2018-12-21 Luca Comisso , Lorenzo Sironi

By means of two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the process of driven magnetic reconnection at the termination shock of relativistic striped flows. In pulsar winds and in magnetar-powered relativistic…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-11 Lorenzo Sironi , Anatoly Spitkovsky

Magnetic reconnection in the relativistic regime has been proposed as an important process for the efficient production of nonthermal particles and high-energy emissions. Using fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate how…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-05-10 Omar French , Fan Guo , Qile Zhang , Dmitri Uzdensky

Recent progress in understanding the physics of magnetic reconnection is conveniently summarized in terms of a phase diagram which organizes the essential dynamics for a wide variety of applications in heliophysics, laboratory and…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-30 Hantao Ji , William Daughton

Collisionless magnetic reconnection is a prime candidate to account for flare-like or steady emission, outflow launching, or plasma heating, in a variety of high-energy astrophysical objects, including ones with relativistic ion-electron…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2014-11-05 Mickaël Melzani , Rolf Walder , Doris Folini , Christophe Winisdoerffer , Jean M. Favre

Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous and fundamental process in plasmas by which magnetic fields change their topology and release magnetic energy. Despite decades of research, the physics governing the reconnection process in many…