Open AccessStochastic Acceleration in Turbulent Electric Fields Generated by 3D Reconnection
Author(s) -
M. Onofri,
H. Isliker,
L. Vlahos
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
physical review letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.688
H-Index - 673
eISSN - 1079-7114
pISSN - 0031-9007
DOI - 10.1103/physrevlett.96.151102
Subject(s) - physics , magnetohydrodynamics , magnetic reconnection , current sheet , acceleration , particle acceleration , magnetohydrodynamic drive , electric field , electron , magnetic field , mechanics , computational physics , turbulence , classical mechanics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
Electron and proton acceleration in three-dimensional electric and magneticfields is studied through test particle simulations. The fields are obtained bya three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation of magnetic reconnection inslab geometry. The nonlinear evolution of the system is characterized by thegrowth of many unstable modes and the initial current sheet is fragmented withformation of small scale structures. We inject at random points inside theevolving current sheet a Maxwellian distribution of particles. In relativelyshort time (less than a millisecond) the particles develop a power law tail.The acceleration is extremely efficient and the electrons absorb a largepercentage of the available energy in a small fraction of the characteristictime of the MHD simulation, suggesting that resistive MHD codes, usedextensively in the current literature, are unable to represent the full extentof particle acceleration in 3D reconnection.Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
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