Macroscale Particle Simulation of Externally Driven Magnetic Reconnection

"Externally driven reconnection, assuming an anomalous particle collision model, is numerically studied by means of a 2.5D macroscale particle simulation code in which the field and particle motions are solved self-consistently. Explosive magnetic reconnection and energy conversion are observed as a result of slow shock formation. Electron and ion distribution functions exhibit large bulk acceleration and heating of the plasma. Simulation runs with different collision parameters suggest that the development of reconnection, particle acceleration and heating do not significantly depend on the parameters of the collision model.