REGULAR VERSUS CHAOTIC MOTION OF CHARGED-PARTICLES IN NONNEUTRAL CURRENT SHEETS

Charged particle motion in reconnecting current sheets (CS) can be bot h regular and chaotic, depending on the values of transverse (perpendi cular to the CS plane) and longitudinal (parallel to the electric fiel d inside the CS) components of the magnetic field. The non-zero transv erse field gives rise to chaos, whereas a sufficiently large longitudi nal field tends to stabilize the motion. The longitudinal field change in time may be the cause of different regimes of electron acceleratio n in solar flares and magnetospheric substorms.