THE EXTENT OF POWER-LAW ENERGY SPECTRA IN COLLISIONLESS RELATIVISTIC MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN PAIR PLASMAS
G. WernerCenter for Integrated Plasma Studies, Physics Department, 390 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USADmitri UzdenskyCenter for Integrated Plasma Studies, Physics Department, 390 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USABenoît CeruttiDept. of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USAKrzysztof NalewajkoJILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology, 440 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309‐0440, USAMitchell C. BegelmanJILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology, 440 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309‐0440, USA
2015en
ABI
Abstract
ABSTRACT Using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we characterize the energy spectra of particles accelerated by relativistic magnetic reconnection (without guide field) in collisionless electron–positron plasmas, for a wide range of upstream magnetizations σ and system sizes L . The particle spectra are well-represented by a power law , with a combination of exponential and super-exponential high-energy cutoffs, proportional to σ and L , respectively. For large L and σ , the power-law index α approaches about 1.2.
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