Particle acceleration from inductive electric fields associated with reconnection

The concept of magnetic reconnection was first proposed by Giovanelli more than 50 years ago as a means to accelerate charged particles to high energies. The role of reconnection in accelerating particles has since remained a hot topic, which by no means has led to a settled paradigm. Here we provide insights from test particle calculations in dynamic fields that result from MHD simulations of reconnection in the magnetotail. We discuss typical acceleration mechanisms for ions and electrons, which include direct acceleration near the reconnection site as well as betatron and Fermi acceleration in the collapsing fields earthward from this site, and illustrate the resulting temporal and spatial distributions of energetic particles.