On the Effect of Driving Turbulence on Magnetic Reconnection: A Particle-In-Cell Simulation Study

Energy dissipation in collisionless plasmas is one of the most outstanding open questions in plasma physics. Magnetic reconnection and turbulence are two phenomena that can produce the right conditions for energy dissipation. These two phenomena are closely related to each other in a wide range of plasmas. Turbulent fluctuations can emerge in critical regions of reconnection events, and magnetic reconnection can occur as a product of the turbulent cascade. Moreover, the presence of a turbulent field can affect the onset and evolution of magnetic reconnection. In this study, we perform 2D and 3D particle-in-cell simulations of a reconnecting Harris current sheet in the presence of turbulent fluctuations to explore the effect of turbulence on the reconnection process in collisionless plasmas. We use the Langevin antenna method to drive turbulence in the reconnecting magnetic field. We compare our results with existing theories.