Energy conversion mechanism for electron perpendicular energy in high guide-field reconnection

The energy conversion mechanism for electron perpendicular energy, both the thermal and the kinetic energies, is investigated by means of two-dimensional, full-particle simulations in an open system. It is shown that electron perpendicular heating is mainly due to the breaking of magnetic moment conservation in separatrix region because the charge separation generates intense variation of electric field within the several electron Larmor radii. Meanwhile, electron perpendicular acceleration takes place mainly due to the polarization drift term as well as the curvature drift term of E . u(perpendicular to) in the downstream near the X-point. The enhanced electric field due to the charge separation there results in a significant effect of the polarization drift term on the dissipation of magnetic energy within the ion inertia length in the downstream. Published by AIP Publishing.