A fundamental problem in our exploration of the universe
is how hot electrons are produced.
That is because hot electrons can actually generate
x-rays and gamma rays that can we can image
by spacecraft telescopes.
Magnetic reconnection is one of the fundamental processes
that may be the cause of electron energization;
for instance, in coronal mass ejections (massive explosions
on the sun), a ton of hot electrons are produced.
The problem with magnetic reconnection for energizing
electrons is that it takes place in tiny, tiny regions
or that's been what we've been thinking so far.
Meanwhile, in our new simulations, we show now that
electric fields can be generated over huge regions,
accelerating electrons to relativistic energies, that could
be sufficient for producing the hot electrons observed.
The movie shoes the evolution of the acceleration potential,
parallel electric field, and the plasma density.
The overlaid black contours are the magnetic field lines
reconnecting. Most significant, the acceleration potential
reach a magnitude that create relativistic electrons over
a large spatial region; far larger than was observed before.
Furthermore, the movie also shows how the simulated
electron distributions provide a close match to distributions
recorded by spacecraft in the Earth magnetotail.
