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A test electron model for the study of three dimensional magnetic reconnection effects
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Perona, A., Borgogno, D. and Eriksson, L. -G. (2014) A test electron model for the study of three dimensional magnetic reconnection effects. Computer Physics Communications, Volume 185 (Number 1). pp. 86-95. doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2013.08.018 ISSN 0010-4655.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2013.08.018
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms that enable the conversion of the explosive release of magnetic energy into the electron energization that is experimentally observed in space and laboratory plasmas represents a long-standing question in the study of magnetic reconnection.
We present a test particle model able to follow the dynamics of the electron guiding centers in the presence of the electromagnetic fields characterizing a non-steady-state, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (3D-MHD) description of magnetic reconnection. The resulting electron equations, based on a relativistic Hamiltonian formulation of the particle dynamics, have been implemented in a code that evolves the spatial position and the velocity of the electrons according to the fields obtained by the numerical solutions of a two-fluid reconnection model. By the calculation of the electron distribution function in the phase space, the electron kinetic moments can be obtained with a δf technique particularly suitable during the early stages of the reconnection process, which can be replaced by a full-f approach in the nonlinear reconnection phase. Thanks to its capability to reproduce the electron response in a quite realistic reconnection configuration, this numerical tool represents a new instrument for the investigation of the nonlinear electron dynamics in particularly complex reconnection regions, such as those characterized by magnetic field line stochasticity.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Computer Physics Communications | ||||
Publisher: | Elsevier Science BV | ||||
ISSN: | 0010-4655 | ||||
Official Date: | 2014 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 185 | ||||
Number: | Number 1 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 86-95 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1016/j.cpc.2013.08.018 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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