2011/05/31 by Jared C. Workman, Eric G. Blackman, Chuang Ren · 12 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Acceleration #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Electron #Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope #Fermi acceleration #Inflow #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Magnetic reconnection #Outflow #Particle acceleration #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph.HE #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.3631795
published in Physics of Plasmas 18(9) (American Institute of Physics)
openalex publication_date 2011/09/01 · arxiv created 2011/09/05 · arxiv updated 2015/05/28 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Magnetic reconnection is commonly perceived to drive flow and particle acceleration in flares of solar, stellar, and astrophysical disk coronae but the relative roles of different acceleration mechanisms in a given reconnection environment are not well understood. While outflow fast mode shocks have been predicted analytically, we show for the first time via direct numerical simulations that such shocks do indeed occur in the outflows of fast reconnection when an obstacle is present. These shocks are distinct from the slow mode Petschek inflow shocks. If Fermi acceleration of electrons operates in the weak fast shocks, the associated compression ratios will induce a Fermi acceleration particle spectrum that is significantly steeper than strong fast shocks commonly studied, but consistent with the demands of solar flares. While this is not the only acceleration mechanism operating in a reconnection environment, it is plausibly a ubiquitous one.