Second-order Fermi acceleration by multi-island contraction during turbulent magnetic reconnection
Abstract
Turbulence plays an important role in the energization of particles throughout the heliosphere. The acceleration of particles in magnetized plasmas is considered during turbulent multi-island magnetic reconnection. The stochastic acceleration model is constructed for an ensemble of islands, which undergo adiabatical compression or expansion. The evolution of the particle distribution function is described as simultaneous first and second order Fermi acceleration processes. The second order process becomes efficient for strong particle diffusion and dominates the first order one in the case of a large spread in the relative magnitude of the reconnecting magnetic fields. The model emphasizes the role of turbulence and explains some features of the numerical PIC simulations of multi-island contraction during turbulent magnetic reconnection.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMSH51B2239B
- Keywords:
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- 7835 SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS / Magnetic reconnection;
- 7857 SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS / Stochastic phenomena;
- 7863 SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS / Turbulence