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As a fundamental process converting magnetic to plasma energy in high-energyastrophysical plasmas, relativistic magnetic reconnection is a leadingexplanation for the acceleration of particles to the ultrarelativistic energiesnecessary to power nonthermal emission (especially X-rays and gamma-rays) inpulsar magnetospheres and pulsar wind nebulae, coronae and jets of accretingblack holes, and gamma-ray bursts. An important objective of plasmaastrophysics is therefore the characterization of nonthermal particleacceleration (NTPA) effected by reconnection. Reconnection-powered NTPA hasbeen demonstrated over a wide range of physical conditions using largetwo-dimensional (2D) kinetic simulations. However, its robustness in realistic3D reconnection -- in particular, whether the 3D relativistic drift-kinkinstability (RDKI) disrupts NTPA -- has not been systematically investigated,although pioneering 3D simulations have observed NTPA in isolated cases. Herewe present the first comprehensive study of NTPA in 3D relativisticreconnection in collisionless electron-positron plasmas, characterizing NTPA asthe strength of 3D effects is varied systematically via the length in the thirddimension and the strength of the guide magnetic field. We find that, while theRDKI prominently perturbs 3D reconnecting current sheets, it does not suppressparticle acceleration, even for zero guide field; fully 3D reconnectionrobustly and efficiently produces nonthermal power-law particle spectra closelyresembling those obtained in 2D. This finding provides strong support forreconnection as the key mechanism powering high-energy flares in variousastrophysical systems. We also show that strong guide fields significantlyinhibit NTPA, slowing reconnection and limiting the energy available for plasmaenergization, yielding steeper and shorter power-law spectra.

Nonthermal Particle Acceleration in 3D Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection in Pair Plasma