| Name: Harihar Pradhan |
| Affiliation: Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad |
| Conference ID: ASI2026_145 |
| Title: Energy conversion and scaling analysis in Sweet-Parker regime of relativistic magnetic reconnection |
| Abstract Type: Poster |
| Abstract Category: High Energy Phenomena, Fundamental Physics and Astronomy |
| Author(s) and Co-Author(s) with Affiliation: Harihar Pradhan(Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Sangareddy-502284, India), Kirit D. Makwana(Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Sangareddy-502284, India), Bart Ripperda(David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy, University of Toronto, Toronto-ON M5S 3H4, Canada) |
| Abstract: Relativistic magnetic reconnection plays a key role in the acceleration of charged particles and the generation of high-energy radiation in astrophysical systems such as pulsar wind nebulae, gamma-ray bursts, and relativistic jets. Owing to its strongly nonlinear and multiscale nature, this process is most effectively explored through numerical simulations. In this study, we investigate relativistic magnetic reconnection using relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations initialized with a Harris current sheet. We examine the temporal evolution of reconnection rate and Alfven four-Mach number of the outflow. The measured reconnection rate follow Sweet-Parker scaling, in agreement with previous numerical and theoretical results. To characterize energy transfer, we evaluate the J.E term, which quantifies the exchange of energy between the electromagnetic fields and the plasma. By decomposing the electric field into resistive and convective components with respect to the plasma velocity, we show that energy dissipation is initially dominated by the resistive electric field within the current sheet, while the convective electric field becomes increasingly important at later times, particularly near the separatrix regions. Plasma heating is found to occur predominantly inside the current sheet and along the separatrices. To study the scaling behavior, we perform a scan over the magnetization parameter for mildly relativistic plasmas, comparing it with the previously derived laws of non-relativistic inflows. The inflow speed is found to be slower than the predictions, which we attribute to strong plasma compressibility caused by conversion of magnetic energy into thermal energy. We determine and validate the scaling of the compressibility factor, providing a more accurate depiction of inflow dynamics in this regime. Finally, we investigate the influence of a guide field and find that although increasing the guide field strength reduces the reconnection rate, it has little impact on energy partitioning with thermal energy consistently comprising ~90% of the outflow. |
