Synergy of stochastic and systematic energization of plasmas during turbulent reconnection

Abstract

The important characteristic of turbulent reconnection is that it combines large scale magnetic disturbances $(\delta B/B\sim 1)$ with randomly distributed Unstable Current Sheets (UCSs). Many well known non linear MHD structures (strong turbulence, current sheet(s), shock(s)) lead asymptotically to the state of turbulent reconnection. We analyze in this article, for the first time, the energization of electrons and ions in a {\bf large scale} environment that {\bf combines} large amplitude disturbances propagating with sub-Alfvénic speed with UCSs. The magnetic disturbances interact stochastically (second order Fermi) with the charged particles and they play a crucial role in the heating of the particles, while the UCS interact systematically (first order Fermi) and play a crucial role in the formation of the high energy tail. The synergy of stochastic and systematic acceleration provided by the mixture of magnetic disturbances and UCSs influences the energetics of the thermal and non-thermal particles, the power law index, and the time the particles remain inside the energy release volume. We show that this synergy can explain the observed very fast and impulsive particle acceleration and the slightly delayed formation of a super-hot particle population.

6 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (7)

• Relativistic Jets Shine through Shocks or Magnetic Reconnection?
• Magnetic Reconnection and Intermittent Turbulence in the Solar Wind
• Stochastic Acceleration in Turbulent Electric Fields Generated by 3-D Reconnection
• Fractional Transport in Strongly Turbulent Plasmas
• Particle Acceleration and Fractional Transport in Turbulent Reconnection
• The role of diffusion in the transport of energetic electrons during solar flares
• Stochastic Fermi Energization of Coronal Plasma during explosive magnetic energy release

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