Related papers: Electron Heating by Parallel Electric Fields in Ma…
In moderately-coupled plasmas, a significant fraction of the internal energy resides in electric fields. As these plasmas are heated or compressed, the shifting partition of energy between particles and fields leads to surprising effects,…
Electron ring velocity space distributions have previously been seen in numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection exhausts and have been suggested to be caused by the magnetization of the electron outflow jet by the compressed…
In this study we use the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to investigate the electron acceleration and thermalization occurring along the magnetic reconnection separatrices in the magnetotail. We find that initially cold electron…
The plasma heating during collisionless magnetic reconnection is investigated using particle-in-cell simulations. We analyze the time evolution of the plasma temperature associated with the motion of the reconnecting flux tube, where the…
Magnetic reconnection in strongly magnetized (low-beta), weakly collisional plasmas is investigated using a novel fluid-kinetic model [Zocco & Schekochihin, Phys. Plasmas 18, 102309 (2011)] which retains non-isothermal electron kinetics. It…
A magnetic field was recently shown to enhance field-parallel heat conduction in a strongly correlated plasma whereas cross-field conduction is reduced. Here we show that in such plasmas, the magnetic field has the additional effect of…
By means of fully kinetic simulations, we investigate electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a nonrelativistic proton--electron plasma with conditions similar to solar corona and flares. We demonstrate that reconnection leads…
We present the study of SOL2015-03-15 M1.2 flare, revealing acceleration of electrons and plasma heating in the sheared twisted magnetic structure in the polarity inversion line (PIL). The scope is to make the analysis of nonthermal…
This study investigates the localized electron heating in a bulk overdense plasma. The method relies on using a time dependent magnetic field. An initially high external magnetic field imposed on the overdense plasma target enables the…
The electron dynamics and the mechanisms of power absorption in radio-frequency (RF) driven, magnetically enhanced capacitively coupled plasmas (MECCPs) at low pressure are investigated. The device in focus is a geometrically asymmetric…
Using Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations at the Earth's quasi-parallel bow shock we demonstrate that electrons are heated by two different mechanisms: a quasi-adiabatic heating process during magnetic field compression,…
The dynamics of two initially unmagnetized relativistic counter-streaming homogeneous ion-electron plasma beams are simulated in two dimensions using the particle-in-cell (PIC) method. It is shown that current filaments, which form due to…
Processes driven by unsteady reconnection can efficiently accelerate particles in many astrophysical plasmas. An example are the reconnection jet fronts in an outflow region. We present evidence of suprathermal ion acceleration between two…
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…
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…
Magnetic reconnection has long been known to be the most important mechanism as quick conversion of magnetic field energy into plasma kinetic energy. In addition, energy dissipation by reconnection has gained attention not only as a plasma…
Ultracold neutral plasmas provide a useful system for studying extreme parameter regimes plasma physics in an accessible laboratory setting. The parameter space of plasma physics can be characterized in part by coupling strength and degree…
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.,…
We present evidence for strong radiative cooling in a pulsed-power-driven magnetic reconnection experiment. Two aluminum exploding wire arrays, driven by a 20 MA peak current, 300 ns rise time pulse from the Z machine (Sandia National…
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…