Stability of currents and energization of electrons during magnetic reconnection in the context of the solar atmosphere and Earth's magnetosphere
by
Philippe Bourdin(Austrian Academy of Sciences)
→
Europe/Stockholm
Description
Flux emergence from the solar surface causes a global reconfiguration of
the magnetic topology. Subsequently, this induces electric currents by
acceleration of charged particles, in particular electrons. The rate of
the reconnection determines also the nature of the magnetic energy
dissipation mechanism, be it more nanoflare-like heating or a more
steady magnetic diffusion, which is still debated in solar physics.
Usually, MHD models implement a simple diffusion equation to describe
this magnetic energy dissipation and only with a plasma-kinetic
treatment once can actually check this assumption. In a PIC simulation
of anti-parallel magnetic reconnection, we can follow the actual
energization of electrons and the dissipation of the resulting
non-Maxwellian velocity distributions on spatial and temporal scales
that are otherwise inaccessible to a fluid-dynamics approach.