J. F. Drake et al 2009 ApJ 700 L16 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/700/1/L16
A MAGNETIC RECONNECTION MECHANISM FOR ION ACCELERATION AND ABUNDANCE ENHANCEMENTS IN IMPULSIVE FLARES
FREE ISSUEJ. F. Drake1, P. A. Cassak2, M. A. Shay3, M. Swisdak1 and E. Quataert4
Show affiliationsThe acceleration of ions during magnetic reconnection in solar flares is explored with simulations and analytic analysis. Ions crossing into Alfvénic reconnection outflows can behave like pickup particles and gain an effective thermal velocity equal to the Alfvén speed. However, with a sufficiently strong ambient out-of-plane magnetic field, which is the relevant configuration for flares, the ions can become adiabatic and their heating is then dramatically reduced. The threshold for nonadiabatic behavior, where ions are strongly heated, becomes a condition on the ion mass-to-charge ratio, 
, where mi and Zi are the ion mass and charge state, mp is the proton mass, and β0x = 8πnT/B 2 0x is the ratio of the plasma pressure to that of the reconnecting magnetic field B 0x . Thus, during flares high mass-to-charge particles gain energy more easily than protons and a simple model reveals that their abundances are enhanced, which is consistent with observations.
- Keywords
acceleration of particles; solar wind; Sun: corona; Sun: flares
- PACS
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96.60.Iv Magnetic reconnection
- Subjects
- Dates
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Issue 1 (2009 July 20)
Received 2009 April 22, accepted for publication 2009 June 12
Published 2009 June 29
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A Magnetic Reconnection Mechanism for Ion Acceleration and Abundance Enhancements in Impulsive Flares
J. F. Drake et al 2009 ApJ 700 L16
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