Effective Resistivity in Relativistic Collisionless Reconnection
| dc.contributor.author | Selvi, S. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Porth, O. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ripperda, B. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Bacchini, F. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Sironi, L. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Keppens, R. | |
| dc.date | 2023 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-08-10T09:22:29Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-08-10T09:22:29Z | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://orfeo.belnet.be/handle/internal/11047 | |
| dc.description | Magnetic reconnection can power spectacular high-energy astrophysical phenomena by producing nonthermal energy distributions in highly magnetized regions around compact objects. By means of two-dimensional fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we investigate relativistic collisionless plasmoid-mediated reconnection in magnetically dominated pair plasmas with and without a guide field. In X-points, where diverging flows result in a nondiagonal thermal pressure tensor, a finite residence time for particles gives rise to a localized collisionless effective resistivity. Here, for the first time for relativistic reconnection in a fully developed plasmoid chain, we identify the mechanisms driving the nonideal electric field using a full Ohm law by means of a statistical analysis based on our PIC simulations. We show that the nonideal electric field is predominantly driven by gradients of nongyrotropic thermal pressures. We propose a kinetic physics motivated nonuniform effective resistivity model that is negligible on global scales and becomes significant only locally in X-points. It captures the properties of collisionless reconnection with the aim of mimicking its essentials in nonideal magnetohydrodynamic descriptions. This effective resistivity model provides a viable opportunity to design physically grounded global models for reconnection-powered high-energy emission. | |
| dc.language | eng | |
| dc.title | Effective Resistivity in Relativistic Collisionless Reconnection | |
| dc.type | Article | |
| dc.subject.frascati | Physical sciences | |
| dc.audience | Scientific | |
| dc.source.title | The Astrophysical Journal | |
| dc.source.volume | 950 | |
| dc.source.issue | 2 | |
| dc.source.page | A169 | |
| Orfeo.peerreviewed | Yes | |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.3847/1538-4357/acd0b0 | |
| dc.identifier.scopus |
