Relativistic magnetic reconnection in pair plasmas and its astrophysical applications
arXiv:1412.2451 · doi:10.1007/s11214-014-0132-9
Abstract
This review discusses the physics of magnetic reconnection, a process in which the magnetic field topology changes and magnetic energy is converted to kinetic energy, in pair plasmas in the relativistic regime. We focus on recent progress in the field driven by theory advances and the maturity of particle-in-cell codes. This work shows that fragmentation instabilities at the current sheet can play a critical role in setting the reconnection speed and affect the resulting particle acceleration, anisotropy, bulk flows, and radiation. Then, we discuss how this novel understanding of relativistic reconnection can be applied to high-energy astrophysical phenomena, with an emphasis on pulsars, pulsar wind nebulae, and active galactic nucleus jets.
35 pages; 14 figures; invited topical review, submitted for publication in The Strongest Magnetic Fields in the Universe (Space Sciences Series of ISSI, Springer), Space Science Reviews
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Cited by in corpus (43)
- Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
- Plasmoid Instability in Forming Current Sheets
- Dissipation of the striped pulsar wind
- Dissipation of the striped pulsar wind and non-thermal particle acceleration: 3D PIC simulations
- Synthetic gamma-ray lightcurves of Kerr black-hole magnetospheric activity from particle-in-cell simulations
- Dark photon superradiance: Electrodynamics and multimessenger signals
- PIC methods in astrophysics: Simulations of relativistic jets and kinetic physics in astrophysical systems
- Particle Injection and Nonthermal Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection
- Jets, disc-winds and oscillations in general relativistic, magnetically driven flows around black hole
- Comptonization by Reconnection Plasmoids in Black Hole Coronae I: Magnetically Dominated Pair Plasma
- Emission of magnetar bursts and precursors of neutron star mergers
- Spinning black holes magnetically connected to a Keplerian disk -- Magnetosphere, reconnection sheet, particle acceleration and coronal heating
- Blazar Jets Perturbed by Magneto-Gravitational Stresses in Supermassive Binaries
- Detection of X-ray Polarization from the Blazar 1ES 1959+650 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer
- Modelling Jets, Tori and Flares in Pulsar Wind Nebulae
- Relativistic Nonthermal Particle Acceleration in Two-Dimensional Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection
- High-Energy Neutrino Emission from White Dwarf Mergers
- Temporal Evolution of Prompt GRB Polarization
- Relativistic Asymmetric Reconnection
- GRB Spectrum from Gradual Dissipation in a Magnetized Outflow
- Turbulent model of Crab nebula radiation
- Exploring the Variability of the Flat Spectrum Radio Source 1633+382. I. Phenomenology of the Light Curves
- First-Principles Theory of the Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection Rate in Astrophysical Pair Plasmas
- Constraining Parameters in Pulsar Models of Repeating FRB 121102 with High-Energy Follow-up Observations
- State-of-the-Art Collapsar Jet Simulations Imply Undetectable Subphotospheric Neutrinos
- Particle Acceleration in Pulsar Wind Nebulae: PIC modelling
- The effect of cooling on particle trajectories and acceleration in relativistic magnetic reconnection
- Meeting the Challenge from Bright and Fast Gamma-Ray Flares of 3C 279
- Electromagnetic Energy Extraction from Kerr Black Holes: Ab-Initio Calculations
- High-energy neutrino emission from magnetised jets of rapidly rotating protomagnetars
- Whispering in the dark: Faint X-ray emission from black holes with OB star companions
- Possible contribution of X-ray binary jets to the Galactic cosmic ray and neutrino flux
- Magnetically arrested disk flux eruption events to describe SgrA* flares
- Blazar jets launched with similar energy per baryon, independently of their power
- Electron acceleration at pulsar wind termination shocks
- Turbulence and Magnetic Reconnection in Relativistic Multispecies Plasmas
- Maximally-hard spectra from diffusive shock-acceleration in pulsar-wind nebulae
- On the M87 jet structure near the central engine
- Conditions for Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection under the Presence of Shear Flow and Guide Field
- High energy neutrinos produced in the accretion disks by neutrons from nuclei disintegrated in the AGN jets
- Intra-pulse variability induced by plasmoid formation in pulsar magnetospheres
- Hadronic Processes, Plasma Evolution and Neutrino Emission in Magnetic Towers of Neutron-Star Merger Remnants
- Particle Acceleration in Colliding Flows: Binary Star Winds and Other Double-Shock Structures