Non-linear growth of double tearing mode: Explosive reconnection, plasmoid formation, and particle acceleration

The nonlinear evolution of double tearing modes (DTMs) is investigated within the framework of resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations in a two-dimensional Cartesian geometry. We have explored the explosive reconnection phase associated with the growth of the secondary structure-driven instability for a range of resistivity values. The time scale of the explosive phase (that is of order of a few Alfvenic time scales) is shown to be quasi-independent of the resistivity, even when fast growing plasmoids develop for the highest enough Lundquist number cases. Test particle accelerations are performed using the MHD explosive simulations as input parameters. Our results show that reconnection DTM dynamics is able to provide an efficient process for accelerating charged particles far beyond characteristic thermal velocities within the reconnection layers. The main acceleration mechanism is attributed to the strong inductive electric field generated by the island structure-driven instability, with an additional smaller contribution due to the presence of plasmoids. Finally, our results are used to discuss some features of the accelerated particle spectra during flaring activity in the solar corona. Published by AIP Publishing.