Anisotropic Electron Heating in Turbulence-driven Magnetic Reconnection in the Near-Sun Solar Wind

0560726 - ASÚ 2023 RIV GB eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Franci, L. - Papini, E. - Micera, A. - Lapenta, G. - Hellinger, Petr - Del Sarto, D. - Burgess, D. - Landi, S.
Anisotropic Electron Heating in Turbulence-driven Magnetic Reconnection in the Near-Sun Solar Wind.
Astrophysical Journal. Roč. 936, č. 1 (2022), č. článku 27. ISSN 0004-637X. E-ISSN 1538-4357
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67985815
Klíčová slova: space plasmas * plasma astrophysics * solar wind
Obor OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Impakt faktor: 4.9, rok: 2022
Způsob publikování: Open access

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.
Trvalý link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0334236