Phase mixing of shear Alfvén waves as a new mechanism for electron acceleration in collisionless, kinetic plasmas

Abstract

Particle-in-cell (kinetic) simulations of shear Alfvén wave (AW) interaction with one-dimensional, across the uniform-magnetic field, density inhomogeneity (phase mixing) in collisionless plasma were performed for the first time. As a result, a new electron acceleration mechanism is discovered. Progressive distortion of the AW front, due to the differences in local Alfvén speed, generates electrostatic fields nearly parallel to the magnetic field, which accelerate electrons via Landau damping. Surprisingly, the amplitude decay law in the inhomogeneous regions, in the kinetic regime, is the same as in the MHD approximation described by Heyvaerts and Priest (1983 Astron. Astrophys. 117 220). © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.