ELECTRIC-DRIFT GENERATED TRAJECTORIES AND PARTICLE-ACCELERATION IN COLLISIONLESS MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

Adiabatic acceleration of charged particles along magnetic field lines originates from the coupling between the electric drift and longitudi nal motion in a nonunidirectional magnetic field. As a result, initial ly slow particles entering the reconnection site of an X-type magnetic geometry can leave the latter as substantially accelerated jets direc ted along the magnetic separatrices. The corresponding energy spectrum has a power-law form, with the spectral index depending on the angle between the separatrices. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.