(P. Pongkitiwanichakul*, W. Fox, D. Ruffolo, K. Malakit, K. V. Lezhnin, J. Matteucci, and A. Bhattacharjee 2021, Astrophys. J., 907, 86)
Understanding the mechanism for particle acceleration would provide crucial information concerning extreme astrophysical events as probed by X-rays or γ-rays. One of the promising mechanisms involves magnetic reconnection that converts magnetic energy into kinetic energy of particles. In the present work, we performed particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of strongly driven collisions of magnetized plasmas to generate driven magnetic reconnection in a configuration more closely related to violent astrophysical collisions, and yet also closely related to present-day laboratory experiments that irradiate targets with high-intensity lasers to produce high-energydensity plasma. We find that the ion acceleration along the reconnection outflow becomes significant when there is sufficient magnetic flux embedded in low-density plasmas to set up a high-speed reconnection outflow. Additional acceleration can come from a plasmoid accelerated during the driven reconnection. This effect should be measurable in the laboratory when experiments are developed to use stronger magnetic fields.
