Linking Particle Acceleration to Magnetic Reconnection

Magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process, explosively releases energy, generates particles with high energies and plays a crucial role in space weather. This process, which is very common in space plasmas, also occurs in Earth’s magnetotail, driving particle acceleration and affecting the plasma dynamics of the near-Earth space environment. 

To explore the connection between magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration, we present fully kinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetotail, including both ions and electrons. For this purpose, we employed the particle in cell (PIC) code ECsim and set up the simulation with parameters from a well-studied magnetic reconnection event observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. This event, usually referred to as a “quiet magnetic reconnection” event, is characterized by less enhanced plasma heating and turbulence.

Our study first compares the particle energization observed in the MMS data with the results from our simulation for this specific reconnection event. By examining the differences and similarities between the two, we aim to evaluate how well the simulation captures the key features of the observed event. Afterward, we vary the initial parameters to investigate how various reconnection scenarios affect particle acceleration. This approach allows us to analyze how different environmental conditions influence the acceleration of particles during magnetic reconnection.