Electron dynamics in collisionless magnetic reconnection with a PIC simulation

Abstract

Two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is used to investigate electron dynamics in collisionless magnetic reconnection, and the proton/electron mass ratio is taken to be mi/me = 256. The results show that the presence of a strong initial guide field will change the direction of the electron flow. The electron density cavities and the parallel electric field can be found in the electron inflow region along the separatrix, and the electron inflow and density cavities only appear in the second and fourth quadrants. What is different from the results with a smaller mass ratio is that new structures appear in the diffusion region near the X line: (1) Narrow regions of density enhancement and density cavities can be found synchronously in this region; and (2) corresponding to the electron density changes near the X line, the strong parallel electric fields are found to occur in the first and third quadrants. These electric fields perhaps play a more important role in acceleration and heating electrons than those fields located in the density cavities.