Related papers: Electron-only magnetic reconnection in plasma turb…
Context: Recent satellite measurements in the turbulent magnetosheath of Earth have given evidence of an unusual reconnection mechanism that is driven exclusively by electrons. This newly observed process was called electron-only…
We perform 3D3V hybrid-Vlasov simulations of turbulence with quasi-isotropic, compressible injection near ion scales to mimic the Earth's magnetosheath plasma, and investigate the novel electron-only reconnection, recently observed by the…
Using kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we simulate reconnection conditions appropriate for the magnetosheath and solar wind, i.e., plasma beta (ratio of gas pressure to magnetic pressure) greater than 1 and low magnetic shear…
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…
Simulations of relativistic plasmas traditionally focus on the dynamics of two-species mixtures of charged particles under the influence of external magnetic fields and those generated by particle currents. However, the extreme conditions…
A new path for the generation of a sub-ion scale cascade in collisionless plasma turbulence, triggered by magnetic reconnection, is uncovered by means of high-resolution two-dimensional hybrid-kinetic simulations employing two complementary…
In space and astrophysical plasmas, like in planetary magnetospheres, as that of Mercury,energetic electrons are often found near current sheets (CSs), which hints at electron acceleration by magnetic reconnection. Unfortunately, electron…
3D kinetic-scale turbulence is studied numerically in the regime where electrons are strongly magnetized (the ratio of plasma species pressure to magnetic pressure is $\beta_e=0.1$ for electrons and $\beta_i=1$ for ions). Such a regime is…
Collisionless space plasma turbulence can generate reconnecting thin current sheets as suggested by recent results of numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The MMS mission provides the first serious opportunity to check if small…
We study numerically small-scale reconnection events in kinetic, low-frequency, quasi-2D turbulence (termed kinetic-Alfv\'en turbulence). Using 2D particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate that such turbulence generates reconnection…
Electron-only reconnection (EREC) is a magnetic reconnection regime occurring within subion-scale current sheets (CSs), exhibiting only electron jets, without any ion outflows. EREC has been first observed in the Earth's magnetosheath,…
We derive, and validate numerically, an analytical model for electron-only magnetic reconnection applicable to strongly magnetized plasmas. Our model predicts sub-ion-scale reconnection rates significantly higher than those pertaining to…
Magnetic reconnection requires the violation of the frozen-in condition which ties gyrating charged particles to the magnetic field inhibiting diffusion. Ongoing reconnection has been identified in near-Earth space as being responsible for…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that converts magnetic energy into bulk flow energy, thermal energy, and nonthermal particle acceleration. Despite its importance, the statistical properties of the turbulent…
Electron plasmas confined by an external magnetic field exhibit variations in a two-dimensional plane orthogonal to the confining magnetic field. A nonlinear fluid simulation code to investigate the properties of 2-D electron plasma wave…
Motivated by recent observations of "electron-only" magnetic reconnection, without an ion-scale sheet or ion outflows, in both the Earth's magnetosheath and in numerical simulations, we study the formation and reconnection of electron-scale…
Microscopically, collisionless reconnection in thin current sheets is argued to involve `composite electrons' in the ion inertial (Hall current) domain, a tiny fraction of electrons only. These `composite electrons' are confined to lower…
Evolving magnetic fields are frequently embedded in plasmas that are turbulent. When the primary interest is in effects that are on a large scale compared to that of the turbulence, it is desirable to average over the turbulence to obtain…
Collisionless plasma systems are often studied using fully kinetic simulations, where protons and electrons are treated as particles. Due to their computational expense, it is necessary to reduce the ion-to-electron mass ratio $m_i/m_e$ or…
Recent analytical works on strong magnetized plasma turbulence have hypothesized the existence of a range of scales where the tearing instability may govern the energy cascade. In this paper, we estimate the conditions under which such…