The transport of energetic particles in the presence of magnetic turbulence is an important but unsolved problem of space physics and astrophysics. Here, we aim at advancing the understanding of energetic particle transport by means of a new numerical model of synthetic magnetic turbulence. The model builds up a turbulent magnetic field as a superposition of space-localized fluctuations at different spatial scales. The resulting spectrum is isotropic with an adjustable spectral index. The model allows us to reproduce a spectrum broader than four decades, and to regulate the level of intermittency through a technique based on the p-model. Adjusting the simulation parameters close to solar wind conditions at 1 au, we inject ∼1 MeV protons in the turbulence realization and compute the parallel and perpendicular diffusion coefficients as a function of spectral extension, turbulence level, and intermittency. While a number of previous results are recovered in the appropriate limits, including anomalous transport regimes for low turbulence levels, we find that long spectral extensions tend to reduce the diffusion coefficients. Furthermore, we find for the first time that intermittency has an influence on parallel transport but not on perpendicular transport, with the parallel diffusion coefficient increasing with the level of intermittency. We also obtain the distribution of particle inversion times for parallel velocity, a power law for more than one decade, and compare it with the pitch angle scattering times observed in the solar wind. This parametric study can be useful to interpret particle propagation properties in astrophysical systems.

The properties of the turbulence that develops in the outflows of magnetic reconnection have been investigated using self-consistent plasma simulations, in three dimensions. As commonly observed in space plasmas, magnetic reconnection is characterized by the presence of turbulence. Here we provide a direct comparison of our simulations with reported observations of reconnection events in the magnetotail, investigating the properties of the electromagnetic field and the energy conversion mechanisms. In particular, simulations show the development of a turbulent cascade consistent with spacecraft observations, statistics of the dissipation mechanisms in the turbulent outflows similar to the ones observed in reconnection jets in the magnetotail, and that the properties of turbulence vary as a function of the distance from the reconnecting X-line.

Kinetic Alfvén waves are believed to primary form fluctuations in a hydromagnetic turbulence at scales of the order of the ion inertial length. We study a model where an initial Alfvén wave propagates inside an equilibrium structure which is inhomogeneous in the direction perpendicular to the equilibrium magnetic field. In a previous paper this situation has been considered in a particular configuration where the initial wave vector is parallel to the magnetic field and the wave is polarized perpendicular to the inhomogeneity direction. Here we consider other configurations, with a different polarization and possible initial oblique propagation. We employ numerical simulations, using both a Hall‐magnetohydrodynamics and a Hybrid Vlasov‐Maxwell model. Results show that in all the considered cases the time evolution leads to the formation of kinetic Alfvén waves within the inhomogeneity regions, which are identified by a comparison with analytical linear theory results. Then, in this context the formation of kinetic Alfvén waves seems to be a general phenomenon which could be also extended to more complex situations, like turbulence. Kinetic simulations show that kinetic Alfvén waves modify the ion distribution function, generating temperature anisotropy of both parallel and perpendicular to the local magnetic field as well as particle beams aligned along the local magnetic field. These results could be relevant both in the solar corona and in large‐scale structures of the solar wind, where Alfvénic fluctuations are present along with large‐scale inhomogeneities.

The collision of magnetic reconnection jets is studied by means of a three-dimensional numerical simulation at the kinetic scale, in the presence of a strong guide field. We show that turbulence develops due to the collision of jets, producing several current sheets in reconnection outflows, aligned with the guide field direction. The turbulence is mainly two-dimensional, with stronger gradients in the plane perpendicular to the guide field and low wave-like activity in the parallel direction. First, we provide a numerical method to isolate the central turbulent region. Second, we analyze the spatial second-order structure function and prove that turbulence is confined in this region. Finally, we compute local magnetic and electric frequency spectra, finding a trend in the subion range that differs from typical cases for which the Taylor hypothesis is valid, as well as wave activity in the range between ion and electron cyclotron frequencies. Our results are relevant to understand observed collisions of reconnection jets in space plasmas.

Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) is an international journal which publishes papers on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics