The Role of Magnetic Reconnection in Energizing Protons and Heavier Ions at the Heliospheric Current Sheet

Giulia Murtas; Xiaocan Li; Fan Guo; Giuseppe Arro; Jeongbhin Seo; Colby Haggerty; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae6da6

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The Role of Magnetic Reconnection in Energizing Protons and Heavier Ions at the Heliospheric Current Sheet

Journal article

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The Role of Magnetic Reconnection in Energizing Protons and Heavier Ions at the Heliospheric Current Sheet

Giulia Murtas, Xiaocan Li, Fan Guo, Giuseppe Arro, Jeongbhin Seo, Colby Haggerty and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

The Astrophysical journal, Vol.1004(1), p.51

06/10/2026

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae6da6

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Abstract

During near-Sun crossings of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS), Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observed populations of high-energy protons and heavier ions, indicating possible energization by magnetic reconnection up to 10 s-100 s keV nucleon-1. Here we study ion acceleration by magnetic reconnection at the HCS. To estimate ion energization, we solve the Parker transport equation coupled to a large-scale 2D MHD reconnection simulation. We find that multiple ion species develop power-law distributions with both spectral index and high-energy cutoff Emax consistent with in situ data. By accounting for the injection physics determined by kinetic simulations, we confirm that the charge-to-mass ratio scales as Emax proportional to (Q/M)alpha with alpha similar to 0.8-1.1, approximately consistent with PSP measurements in the broader range alpha similar to 0.6-1.7. In the limit where ions are injected at the same energy per nucleon, alpha can be as low as similar to 0.3. These findings further support the role of magnetic reconnection in producing high-energy heavy ions at the HCS.

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Physical Sciences

Science & Technology

Details

Title: Subtitle: The Role of Magnetic Reconnection in Energizing Protons and Heavier Ions at the Heliospheric Current Sheet
Creators: Giulia Murtas - University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Xiaocan Li - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Fan Guo - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Giuseppe Arro - University of Wisconsin–Madison
Jeongbhin Seo - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Colby Haggerty - University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: The Astrophysical journal, Vol.1004(1), p.51
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae6da6
ISSN: 0004-637X
eISSN: 1538-4357
Publisher: IOP Publishing Ltd
Number of pages: 8
Grant note: 20240477CR / DOE divided by NNSA divided by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) PHY2205991 / National Science Foundation (NSF)
Language: English
Date published: 06/10/2026
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9985224317602771

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