Study of particle velocity distribution of plasmas in magnetic reconnection with hybrid simulation Original Research Article

Based on a 2.5 dimensional hybrid code, we have studied the acceleration of particles during the process of magnetic reconnection. It has been found. that a kind of selective acceleration and heating of ions occurred during the magnetic reconnection, which can cause a few particles to reach comparatively high velocities. In particular, the velocity distribution of particles deviates from the initial Maxwellian distribution to a shell or quasi-shell distribution shape. In addition, the evolution of the distributions in different regions present different characteristics, which may correspond to distinct acceleration mechanisms.