The Mechanisms of Electron Heating and Acceleration during Magnetic Reconnection

TL;DR

This study uses particle-in-cell simulations to analyze electron heating mechanisms during magnetic reconnection, highlighting the roles of curvature drift and parallel electric fields in different guide field regimes.

Contribution

It provides a detailed quantification of how curvature drift and parallel electric fields contribute to electron heating in magnetized reconnection, with implications for electron energy spectra.

Findings

Curvature drift dominates electron heating at low guide fields.

Parallel electric fields are localized near X-lines and contribute to heating.

Electron energy spectra become highly anisotropic at late times.

Abstract

The heating of electrons in collisionless magnetic reconnection is explored in particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations with non-zero guide fields so that electrons remain magnetized. In this regime electric fields parallel to B accelerate particles directly while those perpendicular to B do so through gradient-B and curvature drifts. The curvature drift drives parallel heating through Fermi reflection while the gradient B drift changes the perpendicular energy through betatron acceleration. We present simulations in which we evaluate each of these mechanisms in space and time in order to quantify their role in electron heating. For a case with a small guide field (20 % of the magnitude of the reconnecting component) the curvature drift is the dominant source of electron heating. However, for a larger guide field (equal to the magnitude of the reconnecting component) electron acceleration by the curvature drift is comparable to that of the parallel electric field. In both cases the heating by the gradient B drift is negligible in magnitude. Heating by the curvature-drift dominates in the outflow exhausts where bent field lines expand to relax their tension and is therefore distributed over a large area. In contrast, the parallel electric field is localized near X-lines. Acceleration by parallel electric fields may play a smaller role in large systems where the X-line occupies a vanishing fraction of the system. The curvature drift and the parallel electric field dominate the dynamics and drive parallel heating. A consequence is that the electron energy spectrum becomes extremely anisotropic at late time, which has important implications for quantifying the limits of electron acceleration due to synchrotron emission. An upper limit on electron energy gain that is substantially higher than earlier estimates is obtained by balancing reconnection drive with radiative loss.