Related papers: Role of magnetic reconnection in blazar variabilit…
The multi-wavelength spectral and temporal variability observed in blazars set tight constraints on current theoretical emission models. Here, we investigate the relativistic magnetic reconnection process as a source of blazar emission in…
The origin of extremely fast variability is one of the long-standing questions in the gamma-ray astronomy of blazars. While many models explain the slower, lower energy variability, they cannot easily account for such fast flares reaching…
Powerful flares from blazars with short ($\sim$ min) variability timescales are challenging for current models of blazar emission. Here, we present a physically motivated ab initio model for blazar flares based on the results of recent…
Several models have been suggested to explain the fast gamma-ray variability observed in blazars, but its origin is still debated. One scenario is magnetic reconnection, a process that can efficiently convert magnetic energy to energy of…
The exact mechanism for the production of fast $\gamma$-ray variability in blazars remains debated. Magnetic reconnection, in which plasmoids filled with relativistic particles and magnetic fields are formed, is a viable candidate to…
Blazars are relativistic magnetized plasma outflows from supermassive black holes that point very close to our line of sight. Their emission is nonthermal dominated and highly variable across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.…
It is commonly believed that blazar jets are relativistic magnetized plasma outflows from supermassive black holes. One key question is how the jets dissipate magnetic energy to accelerate particles and drive powerful multi-wavelength…
Relativistic magnetic reconnection events can widely exist in magnetized plasmas in astrophysical systems. During this process, oppositely directed magnetic field lines reconnect and release magnetic energy, efficiently accelerating…
Rapid and luminous flares of non-thermal radiation observed in blazars require an efficient mechanism of energy dissipation and particle acceleration in relativistic active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. Particle acceleration in relativistic…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental physical process converting magnetic energy into not only plasma energy but also particle energy in various astrophysical phenomena. In this letter, we show a unique dataset of a solar flare where…
The evolution of the spectral energy distribution during flares constrains models of particle acceleration in blazar jets. The archetypical blazar BL Lac provided a unique opportunity to study spectral variations during an extended strong…
Magnetic reconnection can explosively release magnetic energy when opposing magnetic fields merge and annihilate through a current sheet, driving plasma jets and accelerating non-thermal particle populations to high energy, in plasmas…
Solar flares are major space weather events that result from the explosive conversion of stored magnetic energy into bulk motion, plasma heating, and particle acceleration. While the standard flare model has proven highly successful in…
The ubiquitous relativistic jet phenomena associated with black holes play a major role in high and very-high-energy (VHE) astrophysics. In particular, observations have demonstrated that blazars show VHE emission with time-variability from…
We show that magnetic reconnection in a magnetically-dominated fast-cooling plasma can naturally produce bright flares accompanied by rotations in the synchrotron polarization vector. With particle-in-cell simulations of reconnection, we…
Fast reconnection operating in magnetically dominated plasmas is often invoked in models for magnetar giant flares, for magnetic dissipation in pulsar winds, or to explain the gamma-ray flares observed in the Crab nebula, hence its…
Observations of gamma-ray-bursts and jets from active galactic nuclei reveal that the jet flow is characterized by a high radiative efficiency and that the dissipative mechanism must be a powerful accelerator of non-thermal particles.…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous and fundamental process in plasmas by which magnetic fields change their topology and release magnetic energy. Despite decades of research, the physics governing the reconnection process in many…
The dissipation of energy flux in blazar jets plays a key role in the acceleration of relativistic particles. Two possibilities are commonly considered for the dissipation processes, magnetic reconnection -- possibly triggered by…
Magnetic reconnection is invoked as one of the primary mechanisms to produce energetic particles. We employ large-scale three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations of reconnection in magnetically-dominated ($\sigma=10$) pair plasmas…