We perform a high-resolution, 2D, fully kinetic numerical simulation of a turbulent plasma system with observation-driven conditions, in order to investigate the interplay between turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and particle heating from ion to subelectron scales in the near-Sun solar wind. We find that the power spectra of the turbulent plasma and electromagnetic fluctuations show multiple power-law intervals down to scales smaller than the electron gyroradius. Magnetic reconnection is observed to occur in correspondence of current sheets with a thickness of the order of the electron inertial length, which form and shrink owing to interacting ion-scale vortices. In some cases, both ion and electron outflows are observed (the classic reconnection scenario), while in others-typically for the shortest current sheets-only electron jets are present ("electron-only reconnection"). At the onset of reconnection, the electron temperature starts to increase and a strong parallel temperature anisotropy develops. This suggests that in strong turbulence electron-scale coherent structures may play a significant role for electron heating, as impulsive and localized phenomena such as magnetic reconnection can efficiently transfer energy from the electromagnetic fields to particles.
Anisotropic Electron Heating in Turbulence-driven Magnetic Reconnection in the Near-Sun Solar Wind / Luca Franci; Emanuele Papini; Alfredo Micera; Giovanni Lapenta; Petr Hellinger; Daniele Del Sarto; David Burgess; Simone Landi. - In: THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL. - ISSN 0004-637X. - STAMPA. - 936:(2022), pp. 0-0. [10.3847/1538-4357/ac7da6]
Anisotropic Electron Heating in Turbulence-driven Magnetic Reconnection in the Near-Sun Solar Wind
Luca Franci
Membro del Collaboration Group
;Emanuele PapiniMembro del Collaboration Group
;Petr HellingerMembro del Collaboration Group
;Simone LandiMembro del Collaboration Group
2022
Abstract
We perform a high-resolution, 2D, fully kinetic numerical simulation of a turbulent plasma system with observation-driven conditions, in order to investigate the interplay between turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and particle heating from ion to subelectron scales in the near-Sun solar wind. We find that the power spectra of the turbulent plasma and electromagnetic fluctuations show multiple power-law intervals down to scales smaller than the electron gyroradius. Magnetic reconnection is observed to occur in correspondence of current sheets with a thickness of the order of the electron inertial length, which form and shrink owing to interacting ion-scale vortices. In some cases, both ion and electron outflows are observed (the classic reconnection scenario), while in others-typically for the shortest current sheets-only electron jets are present ("electron-only reconnection"). At the onset of reconnection, the electron temperature starts to increase and a strong parallel temperature anisotropy develops. This suggests that in strong turbulence electron-scale coherent structures may play a significant role for electron heating, as impulsive and localized phenomena such as magnetic reconnection can efficiently transfer energy from the electromagnetic fields to particles.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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