Abstract
Magnetic reconnection is a potential mechanism for charged particle acceleration in astrophysical and space plasmas, especially in solar flares, which are rich sources of highly energetic particles. “Torsional fan reconnection” is one type of model for steady-state 3D null point reconnection. In this study, we investigate proton acceleration with input parameters for the solar corona in the presence of the magnetic and electric fields associated with torsional fan reconnection. By randomly injecting a population of 10,000 protons as test particles in the vicinity of a null point, we show that two symmetric jets of accelerated protons with relativistic energies are generated along the spine axis above and below the fan plane. These jets comprise almost all of the population with average kinetic energy on the order of a few \(\mbox{MeV}\). Also, the details of the energy spectra are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
The author is deeply grateful to Prof. Philippa Browning from the University of Manchester, UK, and Dr. Silvia Dalla from the University of Central Lancashire, UK, for providing the “trajectory code”.
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Hosseinpour, M. Accelerated jets of energetic protons generated by torsional fan reconnection. Astrophys Space Sci 358, 40 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-015-2449-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-015-2449-6