Experimental Observation Of Energetic Ions Accelerated By Three-Dimensional Magnetic Reconnection In A Laboratory Plasma

Authors

Michael R. Brown, Swarthmore CollegeFollow
C. D. Cothran
Matthew Joseph Landreman , '03Follow
David J. Schlossberg , '01
W. H. Matthaeus

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-20-2002

Published In

Astrophysical Journal

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection is widely believed responsible for heating the solar corona as well as for generating X-rays and energetic particles in solar flares. On astrophysical scales, reconnection in the intergalactic plasma is a prime candidate for a local source (Mpc) of cosmic rays exceeding the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff (∼10(19) eV). In a laboratory astrophysics experiment, we have made the first observation of particles accelerated by magnetic reconnection events to energies significantly above both the thermal and the characteristic magnetohydrodynamic energies. These particles are correlated temporally and spatially with the formation of three-dimensional magnetic structures in the reconnection region.

Comments

This work is freely available courtesy of the American Astronomical Society and IOP Publishing.

Recommended Citation

Michael R. Brown et al. (2002). "Experimental Observation Of Energetic Ions Accelerated By Three-Dimensional Magnetic Reconnection In A Laboratory Plasma". Astrophysical Journal. Volume 577, Issue 1. L63-L66. DOI: 10.1086/344145
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-physics/113