Reduction of Ion Heating During Magnetic Reconnection by Large-Scale Effective Potentials

Authors:
  • CHC. C. Haggerty
    C. C. Haggerty
  • MSM. A. Shay
    M. A. Shay
  • JDJ. F. Drake
    J. F. Drake
  • TPT. D. Phan
    T. D. Phan
  • CMC. T. McHugh
    C. T. McHugh
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Abstract
Ion heating due to magnetic reconnection is an important process with applications to diverse plasmas, but previous simulations and observations have measured heating less than half oftheoretical predictions. Using kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, we show that this heating reduction is due to the presence of large scale parallel electric fields creating an effective field aligned potential which reduces the velocities of counterstreaming ions created by Fermi reflection. This potential arises to contain hot exhaust electrons, and an analytic form suitable for observations is derived.