Relativistic effects in the oscillatory damping of magnetic disturbances near two-dimensional X-points are investigated. By taking into account displacement current, we study new features of extremely magnetized systems, in which the Alfvén velocity is almost the speed of light. The frequencies of the least-damped mode are calculated using linearized relativistic MHD equations for wide ranges of the Lundquist number S and the magnetization parameter $σ$. These timescales approach constant values in the large resistive limit: the oscillation time becomes a few times the light crossing time, irrespective of $σ$, and the decay time is proportional to $σ$ and therefore is longer for a highly magnetized system.
Recently, magnetic reconnection, where a relativistically hot plasma is confined by a strong magnetic field, has received great attention in relation to astrophysical objects (e.g., pulsar magnetosphere and magnetar). However, reconnection with relativistic high-speed drift current in the plasma sheet has not been investigated yet. Thus, from both the theoretical and computational points of view, we studied the growth rate of relativistic reconnection for the high-speed drift current in a relativistically hot plasma sheet. Consequently, we argue that, contrary to the conventional understanding…
Blazars are relativistic magnetized plasma outflows from supermassive black holes that point very close to our line of sight. Their emission is nonthermal dominated and highly variable across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Relativistic magnetic reconnection has been proposed as the driver of particle acceleration during blazar flares. While recent particle-in-cell simulations have self-consistently studied the evolution of magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration therein, the resulting radiation signatures have not been systematically explored. In particular, the polarization sign…
We study the kinetic plasma dynamics in collisionless relativistic jets with velocity shear, by carrying out particle-in-cell simulations in the transverse plane of a jet. It is discovered that intermittent magnetic reconnections (MRs) are driven by Mushroom instability (MI), which is an important kinetic-scale plasma instability in the plasma shear-flows with relativistic bulk speed. We refer to this sequence of kinetic plasma phenomena as "MI-driven MR". The MI-driven MRs intermittently occur with moving the location of the reconnection points from the vicinity of the initial velocity-shear …
Magnetic reconnection is ubiquitous in astrophysical systems, and in many such systems, the plasma suffers from significant cooling due to synchrotron radiation. We study relativistic magnetic reconnection in the presence of strong synchrotron cooling, where the ambient magnetization $σ$ is high and the magnetic compactness $\ell_{B}$ of the system is of order unity. In this regime, $e^{\pm}$ pair production from synchrotron photons is inevitable, and this process can regulate the magnetization $σ$ surrounding the current sheet. We investigate this self-regulation analytically and find a self-…
Magnetic reconnection with a 0.1 rate: Effective resistivity in general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics（加拿大理论天体物理研究所）；Department of Physics, University of Toronto（多伦多大学物理系）；David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto（多伦多大学大卫·邓拉普天文与天体物理系）；Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics（理论物理前沿研究所）；Department of Astronomy, Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学天文学系）；Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute（平顿研究所计算天体物理学中心）；Department of Physics, University of Maryland（马里兰大学物理系）；Princeton Center for Theoretical Science and Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University（普林斯顿大学理论科学中心和天体物理科学系）；Anton Pannekoek Institute（安东·潘内克研究所）
We derive basic scaling equations for relativistic magnetic reconnection in the general case of asymmetric inflow conditions and obtain predictions for the outflow Lorentz factor and the reconnection rate. Kinetic Particle-in-Cell simulations show that the outflow speeds as well as the nonthermal spectral index are constrained by the inflowing plasma with the weaker magnetic energy per particle, in agreement with the scaling predictions. These results are significant for understanding non-thermal emission from reconnection in magnetically-dominated, astrophysical systems, many of which may be …
It is commonly believed that blazar jets are relativistic magnetized plasma outflows from supermassive black holes. One key question is how the jets dissipate magnetic energy to accelerate particles and drive powerful multi-wavelength flares. Relativistic magnetic reconnection has been proposed as the primary plasma physical process in the blazar emission region. Recent numerical simulations have shown strong acceleration of nonthermal particles that may lead to multi-wavelength flares. Nevertheless, previous works have not directly evaluated $γ$-ray signatures from first-principle simulations…
Relativistic magnetic reconnection is a potential particle acceleration mechanism for high-frequency BL Lacs (HBLs). The {\it Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer} ({\it IXPE}) scheduled to launch in 2021 has the capability to probe the magnetic field evolution in HBLs, examining the magnetic reconnection scenario for the HBL flares. In this paper, we make the first attempt to self-consistently predict HBL X-ray polarization signatures arising from relativistic magnetic reconnection via combined particle-in-cell (PIC) and polarized radiation transfer simulations. We find that although the intrin…
Magnetic reconnection is invoked as one of the primary mechanisms to produce energetic particles. We employ large-scale three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations of reconnection in magnetically-dominated ($σ=10$) pair plasmas to study the energization physics of high-energy particles. We identify a novel acceleration mechanism that only operates in 3D. For weak guide fields, 3D plasmoids / flux ropes extend along the $z$ direction of the electric current for a length comparable to their cross-sectional radius. Unlike in 2D simulations, where particles are buried in plasmoids, in 3D w…
Magnetic reconnection in strongly magnetized astrophysical plasma environments is believed to be the primary process for fast energy release and particle energization. Currently there is strong interest in relativistic magnetic reconnection, in that it may provide a new explanation for high-energy particle acceleration and radiation in strongly magnetized astrophysical systems. We review recent advances in particle acceleration and reconnection physics in the magnetically-dominated regime. More discussion is focused on the physics of particle acceleration, power-law formation as well as the re…
Particle acceleration in magnetized relativistic jets still puzzles theorists, specially when one tries to explain the highly variable emission observed in blazar jets or gamma-ray bursts putting severe constraints on current models. In this work we investigate the acceleration of particles injected in a three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamical jet subject to current driven kink instability (CDKI), which drives turbulence and fast magnetic reconnection. Test protons injected in the nearly stationary snapshots of the jet, experience an exponential acceleration up to a maximum energy…
We develop a first-principles model for the relativistic magnetic reconnection rate in strongly magnetized pair plasmas. By considering the energy budget and required current density near the x-line, we analytically show that in the magnetically-dominated relativistic regime, the x-line thermal pressure is significantly lower than the upstream magnetic pressure due to the extreme energy needed to sustain the current density, consistent with kinetic simulations. This causes the upstream magnetic field lines to collapse in, producing the open outflow geometry which enables fast reconnection. The…
We present the results of 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of relativistic magnetic reconnection (RMR) in electron-positron plasma, including the dynamical influence of the synchrotron radiation process, and integrating the observable emission signatures. The simulations are initiated with a single Harris current layer with a central gap that triggers the RMR process. We achieve a steady-state reconnection with unrestricted outflows by means of open boundary conditions. The radiative cooling efficiency is regulated by the choice of initial plasma temperature Theta. We explore different va…
The $β$-Dependence of Particle Spectra in Relativistic Turbulent Reconnection
School of Mathematics and Computational Sciences, Xiangtan University（湘潭大学数学与计算科学学院）；Department of Physics, Xiangtan University（湘潭大学物理学院）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；Hunan Key Laboratory for Computation and Simulation in Science and Engineering（湖南省计算与仿真科学工程重点实验室）
