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Project

Comprehensive study of particle acceleration processes in magnetic reconnection with realistic mass ratio Particle In Cell adaptive simulations.

According to satellite observations, a small fraction of particles in the near-Earth space is far more energetic than expected: some events must accelerate them in ways which are not completely understood. We want to investigate here a process, magnetic reconnection, which is well known for causing particle acceleration. However, it is not completely clear where, how and up to which energies magnetic reconnection accelerates particles. Computer simulations are a powerful tool to investigate this issue. In simulations, appropriate initial conditions are loaded and then a computer program is left to evolve in time according to a set of physical laws. The analysis of the results provide insights into the physics of the process. In this particular case, simulations must be able to reproduce very large portions of space with a very high resolution, i.e. providing very detailed information about the domain they reproduce. They soon become very challenging also for the biggest super-computers available. We propose here a new method that will make these simulations less expensive under the point of view of the computing resources they need. With this new method, called Multi Level Multi Domain Method, it will be possible to simulate larger portions of space with increased resolution only where needed. Using simulations with these characteristics, it will become possible to comprehensively investigate the details of particle acceleration in magnetic reconnection.

Date:1 Oct 2014 →  31 Oct 2020
Keywords:Cell adaptive simulations
Disciplines:Classical physics, Elementary particle and high energy physics, Other physical sciences