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Parallel electric fields are inefficient drivers of energetic electrons in magnetic reconnection

We present two-dimensional kinetic simulations, with a broad range of initial guide fields, which isolate the role of parallel electric fields ( E ∥ ) in energetic electron production during collisionless magnetic reconnection. In the strong guide field regime, E ∥ drives essentially all of the elec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics of plasmas 2016-12, Vol.23 (12)
Main Authors: Dahlin, J. T., Drake, J. F., Swisdak, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We present two-dimensional kinetic simulations, with a broad range of initial guide fields, which isolate the role of parallel electric fields ( E ∥ ) in energetic electron production during collisionless magnetic reconnection. In the strong guide field regime, E ∥ drives essentially all of the electron energy gains, yet fails to generate an energetic component. We suggest that this is due to the weak energy scaling of particle acceleration from E ∥ compared to that of a Fermi-type mechanism responsible for energetic electron production in the weak guide-field regime. This result has important implications for energetic electron production in astrophysical systems and reconnection-driven dissipation in turbulence.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.4972082