Related papers: Direct measurement of non-thermal electron acceler…
Electron bulk heating during magnetic reconnection with symmetric inflow conditions is examined using kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The degree of electron heating is well correlated with the inflowing Alfv\'en speed $c_{Ar}$…
Magnetic reconnection occurs when two plasmas having co-planar but anti-parallel magnetic fields meet. At the contact point, the field is locally annihilated and the magnetic energy can be released into the surrounding plasma. Theory and…
Magnetic reconnection can power spectacular high-energy astrophysical phenomena by producing non-thermal energy distributions in highly magnetized regions around compact objects. By means of two-dimensional fully kinetic particle-in-cell…
The onset and evolution of magnetic fields in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas is determined by several mechanisms, including instabilities, dynamo effects and ultra-high energy particle flows through gas, plasma and interstellar-media.…
Exact closed-form solutions to Maxwell's equations are used to investigate the acceleration of electrons in vacuum driven by ultrashort and nonparaxial radially polarized laser pulses. We show that the threshold power above which…
Electron dynamics and energization are one of the key components of magnetic field dissipation in collisionless reconnection. In 2D numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection, the main mechanism that limits the current density and…
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…
A laser-driven azimuthal plasma magnetic field is known to facilitate electron energy gain from the irradiating laser pulse. The enhancement is due to changes in the orientation between the laser electric field and electron velocity caused…
Electron acceleration to non-thermal, ultra-relativistic energies (~ 10-100 TeV) is revealed by radio and X-ray observations of shocks in young supernova remnants (SNRs). The diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) mechanism is usually invoked…
I review a new rapidly growing area of high-energy plasma astrophysics --- radiative magnetic reconnection, i.e., a reconnection regime where radiation reaction influences reconnection dynamics, energetics, and nonthermal particle…
A leading explanation for the origin of Galactic cosmic rays is acceleration at high-Mach number shock waves in the collisionless plasma surrounding young supernova remnants. Evidence for this is provided by multi-wavelength non-thermal…
Our numerical simulations show that the reconnection of magnetic field becomes fast in the presence of weak turbulence in the way consistent with the Lazarian and Vishniac (1999) model of fast reconnection. We trace particles within our…
Most treatments of electron-electron correlations in dense plasmas either ignore them entirely (random phase approximation) or neglect the role of ions (jellium approximation). In this work, we go beyond both these approximations to derive…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous plasma phenomenon that plays a critical role in particle heating and energization. During reconnection, the topology of magnetic field rearranges, depositing energy into the surrounding plasma through…
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…
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…
An experimental study of laser driven electron acceleration in N2 and N2-He mixed gas-jet target using laser pulses of duration ~60-70 fs is presented. Generation of relativistic electron beam with quasi-thermal spectra was observed at a…
The results of kinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection in Harris current sheets are analyzed. A range of guide fields is considered to study reconnection in plasmas characterized by different $\beta$ values, $\beta > m_e/m_i$. Both an…
Recent experimental and theoretical results have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons in the MeV range by focusing tightly a few-cycle laser beam in ambient air. Using Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations, this configuration…
The theoretical prediction that magnetic reconnection spontaneously drives turbulence has been supported by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and kinetic simulations. While reconnection with externally driven turbulence is accepted as an effective…