Stochastic Particle Acceleration in Multiple Magnetic Islands during Reconnection
Hoshino, Masahiro, Stochastic Particle Acceleration in Multiple Magnetic Islands during Reconnection, Phys. Rev. Lett., 108, 135003 (2012) (ADS)
(click on the image for a larger version)
This cartoon describes particle acceleration that may occur stochastically
in an ensemble of tiny reconnection events leading to multiple magnetic
islands.
The argument is that this allows second-order
Fermi acceleration to be as efficient as the first-order
cloud collisions process, i.e. of order
the Alfvén speed. Since we have large Alfvén speeds in flaring
regions, most likely, this would be consistent with what we see in
terms of massive particle acceleration.
Note the similarities with various other
turbulence-based
accelertion ideas, and also the
similarly-colored bubbles in some
of them.
This cartoon describes particle acceleration that may occur stochastically in an ensemble of tiny reconnection events leading to multiple magnetic islands. The argument is that this allows second-order Fermi acceleration to be as efficient as the first-order cloud collisions process, i.e. of order the Alfvén speed. Since we have large Alfvén speeds in flaring regions, most likely, this would be consistent with what we see in terms of massive particle acceleration. Note the similarities with various other turbulence-based accelertion ideas, and also the similarly-colored bubbles in some of them.