3D Kinetic Simulations of Driven Reconnection in Merging Flux Tubes
Fuente:
arXiv
Gespeichert in:
| Hauptverfasser: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2026
|
| Schlagworte: | |
| Online-Zugang: | |
| Tags: |
Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
|
| _version_ | 1866913066568908800 |
|---|---|
| author | Granier, Camille Bacchini, Fabio Groselj, Daniel Sironi, Lorenzo |
| author_facet | Granier, Camille Bacchini, Fabio Groselj, Daniel Sironi, Lorenzo |
| contents | We present 2D and 3D Particle-in-Cell simulations of driven collisionless magnetic reconnection triggered by the compression and merger of two Lundquist-type force-free flux tubes in a strongly magnetized pair plasma, with a focus on magnetic energy dissipation and particle acceleration. We show that 3D effects systematically delay the onset of reconnection in comparison with equivalent 2D runs, an effect further enhanced by a strong guide field, due to reduced linear growth rates and phase decoherence of oblique modes. Increasing the external drive accelerates both tearing and drift-kink instabilities, while a strong guide field suppresses coherent drift-kink activity and has a comparatively mild impact on tearing. Despite these differences in early-time dynamics, all simulations enter a fast-merging phase characterized by a normalized reconnection rate 0.08--0.10, coinciding with a transient reduction of the guide-to-reconnecting field ratio inside the current sheet. The high-energy cutoff of accelerated particles converges to a common asymptotic value, gamma_cut/sigma_in ~ 50, with only a weak dependence on the driving strength. This behavior is consistent with an electric-field-limited acceleration process, in which the maximum energy is set by the reconnection electric field and the duration of the energization phase. The resulting nonthermal particle spectra are similar across all runs, with power-law indices p ~ 1.6--2.0. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_10431 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | 3D Kinetic Simulations of Driven Reconnection in Merging Flux Tubes Granier, Camille Bacchini, Fabio Groselj, Daniel Sironi, Lorenzo Plasma Physics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Solar and Stellar Astrophysics We present 2D and 3D Particle-in-Cell simulations of driven collisionless magnetic reconnection triggered by the compression and merger of two Lundquist-type force-free flux tubes in a strongly magnetized pair plasma, with a focus on magnetic energy dissipation and particle acceleration. We show that 3D effects systematically delay the onset of reconnection in comparison with equivalent 2D runs, an effect further enhanced by a strong guide field, due to reduced linear growth rates and phase decoherence of oblique modes. Increasing the external drive accelerates both tearing and drift-kink instabilities, while a strong guide field suppresses coherent drift-kink activity and has a comparatively mild impact on tearing. Despite these differences in early-time dynamics, all simulations enter a fast-merging phase characterized by a normalized reconnection rate 0.08--0.10, coinciding with a transient reduction of the guide-to-reconnecting field ratio inside the current sheet. The high-energy cutoff of accelerated particles converges to a common asymptotic value, gamma_cut/sigma_in ~ 50, with only a weak dependence on the driving strength. This behavior is consistent with an electric-field-limited acceleration process, in which the maximum energy is set by the reconnection electric field and the duration of the energization phase. The resulting nonthermal particle spectra are similar across all runs, with power-law indices p ~ 1.6--2.0. |
| title | 3D Kinetic Simulations of Driven Reconnection in Merging Flux Tubes |
| topic | Plasma Physics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Solar and Stellar Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.10431 |