Electron and Proton Heating in Transrelativistic Guide Field Reconnection. (arXiv:1901.05438v1 [astro-ph.HE])
Electron and Proton Heating in Transrelativistic Guide Field Reconnection. (arXiv:1901.05438v1 [astro-ph.HE]) <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Rowan_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael E. Rowan</a> (1), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Sironi_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lorenzo Sironi</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Narayan_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ramesh Narayan</a> (1) ((1) Harvard, (2) Columbia) The plasma in low-luminosity accretion flows, such as the one around the black hole at the center of M87 or Sgr A* at our Galactic Center, is expected to be collisioness and two-temperature, with protons hotter than electrons. Here, particle heating is expected to be controlled by magnetic reconnection in the transrelativistic regime $sigma_{w}sim 0.1$-$1$, where the magnetization $sigma_{w}$ is the ratio of magnetic energy density to plasma enthalpy density. By means of large-scale 2D particle-in-cell simulations,Read More →