Related papers: Relativistic Electron Acceleration and the 'Ankle'…
Magnetic field-aligned electric fields are characteristic features of magnetic reconnection processes operating in externally agitated magnetized plasmas. An especially interesting environment for such a process are the coronae of accretion…
Magnetic reconnection is a leading mechanism for magnetic energy conversion and high-energy non-thermal particle production in a variety of high-energy astrophysical objects, including ones with relativistic ion-electron plasmas (e.g.,…
Non-thermal electron acceleration via magnetic reconnection is thought to play an important role in powering the variable X-ray emission from radiatively inefficient accretion flows around black holes. The trans-relativistic regime of…
During the recovery phase of a magnetic storm, fluxes of relativistic ($>1$ MeV) electrons in the inner magnetosphere ($3\le L \le 6$) increase to beyond pre-storm levels, reaching a peak about 4 days after the initiation of the storm. In…
The magnetospheric substorm, which plays a crucial role in flux and energy transport across Earth's magnetosphere, features the formation of a thin, elongated current sheet in the magnetotail during its growth phase. This phase is…
The direct current (DC) electric field near the reconnection region has been proposed as an effective mechanism to accelerate protons and electrons in solar flares. A power-law energy spectrum was generally claimed in the simulations of…
The acceleration and transport of energetic electrons during solar flares is one of the outstanding topics in solar physics. Recent X-ray and radio imaging and spectroscopy observations have provided diagnostics of the distribution of…
Models for collisionless magnetic reconnection in near-Earth space are distinctly characterized as 2D or 3D. In 2D kinetic models, the frozen-in law for the electron fluid is usually broken by laminar dynamics involving structures set by…
Superhalo electrons appear to be continuously present in the interplanetary medium, even at very quiet times, with a power-law spectrum at energies above $\sim$2 keV. Here we numerically investigate the generation of superhalo electrons by…
RHESSI measurements relevant to the fundamental processes of energy release and particle acceleration in flares are summarized. RHESSI's precise measurements of hard X-ray continuum spectra enable model-independent deconvolution to obtain…
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…
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 first self-consistent simulations of electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a macroscale system are presented. Consistent with solar flare observations the spectra of energetic electrons take the form of power-laws that…
Magnetic reconnection is thought to be the driver for many explosive phenomena in the universe. The energy release and particle acceleration during reconnection have been proposed as a mechanism for producing high-energy emissions and…
Magnetic reconnection is an explosive energy-release process in laboratory, space and astrophysical plasmas. While magnetic fields can `break' and `reconnect' in a very small region called the electron diffusion region (EDR), there have…
Magnetic reconnection occurs ubiquitously in the universe and is often invoked to explain fast energy release and particle acceleration in high-energy astrophysics. The study of relativistic magnetic reconnection in the magnetically…
Earth's magnetotail is an excellent laboratory to study the interplay of reconnection and turbulence in determining electron energization. The process of formation of a power law tail during turbulent reconnection is a documented fact still…
Supported by a kinetic simulation, we derive an exclusion energy parameter $\cal{E}_X$ providing a lower kinetic energy bound for an electron to cross from one inflow region to the other during magnetic reconnection. As by a Maxwell Demon,…
Particle acceleration is one of the most significant features that are ubiquitous among space and cosmic plasmas. It is most prominent during flares in the case of the Sun, with which huge amount of electromagnetic radiation and high-energy…
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…