Magnetic reconnection in AGN jets

Magnetic reconnection is invoked as an efficient particle accelerator in a variety of astrophysical sources of non-thermal high-energy radiation including, but not limited to, the jets of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The energy dissipation and particle acceleration processes during magnetic reconnection can only be studied from first principles with fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Here, I will present the main results of our large-scale two-dimensional PIC simulations of magnetic reconnection in electron-positron and electron-ion plasmas and I will discuss their implications for the time-variable non-thermal emission of AGN jets.

Speaker: Maria Petropoulou, Prinecton Univ.