Anisotropic ion heating and tail generation during tearing mode magnetic reconnection in a high-temperature plasma

Complementary measurements of ion energy distributions in a magnetically confined high-temperature plasma show that magnetic reconnection results in both anisotropic ion heating and the generation of suprathermal ions. The anisotropy, observed in the C(+6) impurity ions, is such that the temperature...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2011-08, Vol.107 (6), p.065005-065005, Article 065005
Main Authors: Magee, R M, Den Hartog, D J, Kumar, S T A, Almagri, A F, Chapman, B E, Fiksel, G, Mirnov, V V, Mezonlin, E D, Titus, J B
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Complementary measurements of ion energy distributions in a magnetically confined high-temperature plasma show that magnetic reconnection results in both anisotropic ion heating and the generation of suprathermal ions. The anisotropy, observed in the C(+6) impurity ions, is such that the temperature perpendicular to the magnetic field is larger than the temperature parallel to the magnetic field. The suprathermal tail appears in the majority ion distribution and is well described by a power law to energies 10 times the thermal energy. These observations may offer insight into the energization process.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.065005