The Maximum Particle Energy Gain during Magnetic Reconnection

Abstract The factors that control the maximum energy attained by protons and electrons during magnetic reconnection are investigated analytically and using large-scale simulations with the kglobal model. Previous work revealed that a strong ambient guide field strongly impacts particle energy gain during reconnection, suppressing energy gain from Fermi reflection by increasing the radius of curvature of reconnected field lines. However, previous simulations have also shown that the maximum energy gain increases with the system size. The physical basis for this result has not been explored. We perform simulations that vary the effective system size over a large range to isolate the processes determining the maximum energy gain. The maximum energy W max is regulated by the number of magnetic-island mergers that occur, as multiple flux ropes that form at early time repeatedly merge until the largest approaches the system scale. Fermi reflection in these repeated mergers dominates particle energy gain. The number of mergers is linked to the effective system size—larger systems produce a larger number of flux ropes and more mergers. That W max is linked to the number of flux-rope mergers has implications for understanding why particle-in-cell simulations only produce power-law distributions of energetic particles with a limited range in energy.