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Test particle acceleration in resistive torsional fan magnetic reconnection using laboratory plasma parameters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2021

D.L. Chesny Open the ORCID record for D.L. Chesny [Opens in a new window] ,
N.B. Orange  and
K.W. Hatfield
D.L. Chesny*
Affiliation:
SpaceWave, LLC, Satellite Beach, FL32937 OrangeWave Innovative Science, LLC, Moncks Corner, SC29461
N.B. Orange
Affiliation:
SpaceWave, LLC, Satellite Beach, FL32937 OrangeWave Innovative Science, LLC, Moncks Corner, SC29461 Etelman Observatory Research Center, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USVI00802
K.W. Hatfield
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace, Physics And Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL32901
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

Particle acceleration via magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in astrophysical plasmas. Experimental architectures are able to confirm a wide variety of particle dynamics following the two-dimensional Sweet–Parker model, but are limited in their reproduction of the fan-spine magnetic field topology about three-dimensional (3-D) null points. Specifically, there is not yet an experiment featuring driven 3-D torsional magnetic reconnection. To move in this direction, this paper expands on recent work toward the design of an experimental infrastructure for inducing 3-D torsional fan reconnection by predicting feasible particle acceleration profiles. Solutions to the steady-state, kinematic, resistive magnetohydrodynamic equations are used to numerically calculate particle trajectories from a localized resistivity profile using well-understood laboratory plasma parameters. We confine a thin, 10 eV helium sheath following the snowplough model into the region of this localized resistivity and find that it is accelerated to energies of ${\approx }2$ keV. This sheath is rapidly accelerated and focused along the spine axis propagating a few centimetres from the reconnection region. These dynamics suggest a novel architecture that may hold promise for future experiments studying solar coronal particle acceleration and for technology applications such as spacecraft propulsion.

Keywords

plasma applicationsplasma devicesplasma sheaths
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 87 , Issue 6 , December 2021 , 905870615
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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