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Related papers: An Alfvenic reconnecting plasmoid thruster

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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…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-10-04 Fan Guo , Xiaocan Li , William Daughton , Hui Li , Patrick Kilian , Yi-Hsin Liu , Qile Zhang , Haocheng Zhang

Astrophysical plasmas have the remarkable ability to preserve magnetic topology, which inevitably gives rise to the accumulation of magnetic energy within stressed regions including current sheets. This stored energy is often released…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2022-02-21 Hantao Ji , William Daughton , Jonathan Jara-Almonte , Ari Le , Adam Stanier , Jongsoo Yoo

We present a new model of magnetic reconnection in the presence of turbulence, applicable when the magnetic helicity is non-zero. The new model differs from the Lazarian-Vishniac turbulent reconnection theory by emphasizing the role of…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-01-22 Alexander J. B. Russell

Alfv\'enic turbulence is an effective mechanism for particle acceleration in strongly magnetized, relativistic plasma. In this study, we investigate a scenario where turbulent plasma is influenced by a strong guide magnetic field, resulting…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-05-20 Cristian Vega , Stanislav Boldyrev , Vadim Roytershteyn

We attempt to explain the non-thermal emission arising from galaxy clusters as a result of the re-acceleration of electrons by compressible turbulence induced by cluster mergers. In our model intracluster medium (ICM) is represented by a…

Astrophysics · Physics 2008-11-26 G. Brunetti , A. Lazarian

Plasmoid growth is considered to enhance the rate of magnetic reconnection and is frequently used to explain fast mag netic reconnection in highly conductive (collisionless) plasmas. In strongly magnetized plasmas, the long wavelength…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2026-03-09 F. F. Locker , M. Rinner , M. Held , A. Kendl

Turbulent plasma motion is common in the universe, and invoked in solar flares to drive effective acceleration leading to high energy electrons. Unresolved mass motions are frequently detected in flares from extreme ultraviolet (EUV)…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2023-05-03 Wenzhi Ruan , Limei Yan , Rony Keppens

Plasma densification through magnetic compression has been suggested for time-resolved control of the wave properties in plasma-based accelerators. Using particle in cell simulations with real mass ratio, the practicality of large magnetic…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2016-04-20 Renaud Gueroult , Nathaniel J. Fisch

We investigate the onset of driven collisionless reconnection and plasmoid formation in a magnetically dominated pair plasma, using 2D Particle-in-Cell simulations. Two force-free flux tubes of radius $R$ are initially pushed together with…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-12-16 Camille Granier , Daniel Groselj , Luca Comisso , Fabio Bacchini

A new method for the determination of the Alfven wave energy generated during magnetic reconnection is introduced and used to analyze the results from two-dimensional MHD simulations. It is found that the regions with strong Alfven wave…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2015-06-11 L. C. Wang , L. J. Li , Z. W. Ma , X. Zhang , L. C. Lee

Observations of galaxy clusters show radio emission extended over almost the system scale, necessitating mechanisms for particle acceleration. Previous models for acceleration such as diffusive shock acceleration and that due to turbulence…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2025-01-30 Subham Ghosh , Pallavi Bhat

A unique method of driving Alfvenic turbulence via an oscillating Langevin antenna is presented. This method of driving is motivated by a desire to inject energy into a finite domain numerical simulation in a manner that models the…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2015-06-15 J. M. TenBarge , G. G. Howes , W. Dorland , G. W. Hammett

A cylindrical system is proposed that will store magnetic energy in a localized azimuthal field that can then be quickly released on Alfvenic timescales, accompanied by the formation of a flowing Z-pinch plasma. The magnetized plasma is MHD…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2009-06-08 A. B. Hassam , J. C. Rodgers

Using numerical simulations we show that low-amplitude Alfv\'en waves from a magnetar quake propagate to the outer magnetosphere and convert to "plasmoids" (closed magnetic loops) which accelerate from the star, driving blast waves into the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2020-09-09 Yajie Yuan , Andrei M. Beloborodov , Alexander Y. Chen , Yuri Levin

Magnetic reconnection plays a crucial role in violent energy conversion occurring in the environments of high electrical conductivity, such as the solar atmosphere, magnetosphere, and fusion devices. We focus on the morphological features…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 J. Lin , S. R. Cranmer , C. J. Farrugia

Magnetic reconnection, breaking and reorganization of magnetic field topology, is a fundamental process for rapid release of magnetic energy into plasma particles that occurs pervasively throughout the universe. In most natural…

The magnetosphere of a rotating pulsar naturally develops a current sheet beyond the light cylinder (LC). Magnetic reconnection in this current sheet inevitably dissipates a nontrivial fraction of the pulsar spin-down power within a few LC…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-11 Dmitri A. Uzdensky , Anatoly Spitkovsky

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-12-16 Yue Hu , Luca Comisso , Lorenzo Sironi , Siyao Xu

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…

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