Related papers: Bright gamma-ray flares powered by magnetic reconn…
We show that magnetic reconnection in a magnetically-dominated fast-cooling plasma can naturally produce bright flares accompanied by rotations in the synchrotron polarization vector. With particle-in-cell simulations of reconnection, we…
Magnetic-field reconnection is believed to play a fundamental role in magnetized plasma systems throughout the Universe1, including planetary magnetospheres, magnetars and accretion disks around black holes. This letter present extreme…
It is an open question whether and how gravitational wave events involving neutron stars can be preceded by electromagnetic counterparts. This work shows that the collision of two neutron stars with magnetic fields well below magnetar-level…
Magnetic reconnection is a process whereby magnetic field lines in different directions "reconnect" with each other, resulting in the rearrangement of magnetic field topology together with the conversion of magnetic field energy into the…
Astrophysical compact objects, such as magnetars, neutron star mergers, etc, have strong electromagnetic fields beyond the Schwinger field ($B_c = 4.4 \times 10^{13}\, {\rm G}$). In strong electric fields, electron-positron pairs are…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process associated with conversion of the embedded magnetic field energy into kinetic and thermal plasma energy, via bulk acceleration and Ohmic dissipation. In many high-energy astrophysical…
Solar flares are powerful radiations occuring in the Sun's atmosphere. They are powered by magnetic reconnection, a phemonenon that can convert magnetic energy into other forms of energy such as heat and kinetic energy, and it is believed…
Rapid gamma-ray flares pose an astrophysical puzzle, requiring mechanisms both to accelerate energetic particles and to produce fast observed variability. These dual requirements may be satisfied by collisionless relativistic magnetic…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in a laboratory, magnetospheric, solar and astrophysical plasma, whereby magnetic energy is converted into heat, bulk kinetic energy and fast particle energy. Its nature in two dimensions is…
The time evolution of high-energy synchrotron radiation generated in a relativistic pair plasma energized by reconnection of strong magnetic fields is investigated with two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) particle-in-cell (PIC)…
Magnetic reconnection is a basic plasma process of dramatic rearrangement of magnetic topology, often leading to a violent release of magnetic energy. It is important in magnetic fusion and in space and solar physics --- areas that have so…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental physical process in many laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasma contexts. Solar flares serve as an outstanding laboratory to study the magnetic reconnection and the associated energy release and…
Magnetars are neutron stars with superstrong magnetic fields which can exceed 1e15 G. Some magnetars (the so-called soft gamma-repeaters) demonstrate occasionally very powerful processes of energy release, which result in exceptionally…
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…
This review discusses the physics of magnetic reconnection, a process in which the magnetic field topology changes and magnetic energy is converted to kinetic energy, in pair plasmas in the relativistic regime. We focus on recent progress…
The merger of neutron stars drives a relativistic jet which can be observed as a short gamma-ray burst. A strong large-scale magnetic field is necessary to launch the relativistic jet. However, the magnetohydrodynamical mechanism to build…
A broad variety of observational methods allows us to see the effect of magnetic reconnection in high-temperature strongly-magnetized plasma of the solar corona. Some specific features of the large-scale reconnection in large solar flares…
Magnetic reconnection is believed to be the prime mechanism to trigger solar flares and accelerate electrons up to energies of MeV. In the classical two-dimensional reconnection model, the separation motion of chromospheric ribbons…
The gamma-ray space telescopes AGILE and Fermi detected short and bright synchrotron gamma-ray flares at photon energies above 100 MeV in the Crab Nebula. This discovery suggests that electron-positron pairs in the nebula are accelerated to…
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…