Basic plasma processes in the termination shock in a striped pulsar wind

• Project/Area Number: 25871054
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Particle/Nuclear/Cosmic ray/Astro physics; Plasma science
• Research Institution: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Principal Investigator: Zenitani Seiji 国立天文台, 理論研究部, 特任助教 (10623952)
• Research Collaborator: SHINOHARA Iku 宇宙科学研究所, 学際科学研究系, 准教授 (20301723) ; NAGAI Tsugunobu 東京工業大学, 地球惑星科学, 教授 (60260527) ; UMEDA Takayuki 名古屋大学, 太陽地球環境研究所・統合データサイエンスセンター, 講師 (40432215) ; WADA Tomohide 筑波技術大学, 客員研究員
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
• Keywords: 磁気リコネクション / 衝撃波 / 磁気流体力学 / 相対論 / プラズマ粒子シミュレーション / 高速流体力学 / アルゴリズム / 相対論プラズマ / 磁気拡散 / 非線形力学 / パルサー風

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We conducted basic researches on magnetic reconnection and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) shocks. We proposed a new definition of the central region of magnetic reconnection and then further discussed particle dynamics in the reconnection magnetic geometry. Next we organized a fundamental algorithm to deal with relativistically-moving plasma distribution in particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. By using a relativistic PIC simulation, we studied the electromagnetic balance in the central region of relativistic magnetic reconnection. We also developed a shock-capturing MHD code, which is publicly available. We studied the interaction between magnetic reconnection and MHD shocks. We also proposed a new mechanism to explain gamma-ray flares in a Crab pulsar system, by using MHD simulations.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] プリンストンプラズマ物理研究所(米国)
• [Journal Article] Loading Relativistic Maxwell Distributions in Particle Simulations (2015)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Journal Title: Physics of Plasmas Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Pages: 042116-042116
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4919383
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Ion acceleration processes in magnetic reconnection: Geotail observations in the magnetotail (2015)
  • Author(s): T. Nagai, I. Shinohara and S. Zenitani
  • Journal Title: Journal of Geophysical Research. A:Space Physics Volume: 120 Issue: 3 Pages: 1766-1783
  • DOI: 10.1002/2014ja020737
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Magnetohydrodynamic structure of a plasmoid in fast reconnection in low-beta plasmas: Shock-shock interactions (2015)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Journal Title: Physics of Plasmas Volume: 22 Issue: 3 Pages: 032114-032114
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4916104
  • Peer Reviewed / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Explosive reconnection of double tearing modes in relativistic plasmas with application to the Crab nebula (2015)
  • Author(s): J. Petri, M. Takamoto, H. Baty, and S. Zenitani
  • Journal Title: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Volume: 57 Issue: 1 Pages: 014034-014034
  • DOI: 10.1088/0741-3335/57/1/014034
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Theory and Modeling for the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (2014)
  • Author(s): M. Hesse, N. Aunai, J. Birn, P. Cassak, R. Denton, J. F. Drake, T. Gombosi, M. Hoshino, W. Matthaeus, D. Sibeck, and S. Zenitani
  • Journal Title: Space Science Reviews Volume: N/A Issue: 1-4 Pages: 577-630
  • DOI: 10.1007/s11214-014-0078-y
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Some remarks on the diffusion regions in magnetic reconnection (2014)
  • Author(s): S. Zenitani, T. Umeda
  • Journal Title: Physics of Plasmas Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Pages: 34503-34503
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4869717
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Kinetic aspects of the ion current layer in a reconnection outflow exhaust (2013)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani, Iku Shinohara, Tsugunobu Nagai, and Tomohide Wada
  • Journal Title: Physics of Plasmas Volume: 20 Issue: 9 Pages: 92120-92120
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4821963
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Aspects of collisionless magnetic reconnection in asymmetric systems (2013)
  • Author(s): M. Hesse, N. Aunai, S. Zenitani, M. Kuznetsova, and J. Birn
  • Journal Title: Physics of Plasmas Volume: 20 Issue: 6 Pages: 61210-61210
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4811467
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Explosive reconnection of double tearing modes in relativistic plasmas: application to the Crab flares (2013)
  • Author(s): H. Baty, J. Petri, and S. Zenitani
  • Journal Title: MNRAS Letters Volume: 436 Issue: 1 Pages: L20-L24
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slt104
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Ion and electron dynamics in the ion-electron decoupling region of magnetic reconnection with Geotail observations (2013)
  • Author(s): T. Nagai, S. Zenitani, I. Shinohara, R. Nakamura, M. Fujimoto, Y. Saito, T. Mukai
  • Journal Title: Journal of Geophysical Research. A:Space Physics Volume: 118 Issue: 12 Pages: 7703-7713
  • DOI: 10.1002/2013ja019135
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 相対論領域のリコネクション (2013)
  • Author(s): 銭谷 誠司、高橋 博之
  • Journal Title: プラズマ核融合学会誌 Volume: 89 Pages: 845-848
• [Presentation] Particle dynamics and nongyrotropic distribution functions in collisionless magnetic reconnection (2016)
  • Author(s): S. Zenitani
  • Organizer: International GEMSIS and ASINACTR-G2602 Workshop
  • Place of Presentation: Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi
  • Year and Date: 2016-03-22
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Particle dynamics in the electron current layer in collisionless magnetic reconnection (2016)
  • Author(s): S. Zenitani
  • Organizer: 2016 US-Japan Workshop on Magnetic Reconnection
  • Place of Presentation: Napa, CA, USA
  • Year and Date: 2016-03-07
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Loading Relativistic Maxwell Distributions in Particle Simulations (2015)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Organizer: AGU Fall Meeting 2015
  • Place of Presentation: San Francisco, USA
  • Year and Date: 2015-12-14
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Kinetic Ohm’s law in relativistic magnetic reconnection (2015)
  • Author(s): 銭谷誠司
  • Organizer: 第138回 地球電磁気･地球惑星圏学会 総会・講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 東京大学, 文京区, 東京
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-31
• [Presentation] High-speed fluid dynamics in magnetic reconnection in a low-beta plasma (2015)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Organizer: AGU Chapman Conference on Magnetospheric Dynamics
  • Place of Presentation: Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-27
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Particle acceleration in relativistic magnetic reconnection (2015)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Organizer: AOGS 12th Annual Meeting
  • Place of Presentation: Singapore
  • Year and Date: 2015-08-02
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Numerical Modeling of Relativistic Reconnection: Kinetic, Two-fluid, and MHD Simulations (2015)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Organizer: Relativistic Jets: Creation, Dynamics, and Internal Physics
  • Place of Presentation: Krakow, Poland
  • Year and Date: 2015-04-20
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] 無衝突磁気リコネクションの中心領域問題：理論・ シミュレーション・観測 (2015)
  • Author(s): 銭谷誠司
  • Organizer: STE研究集会「波動粒子相互作用による粒子加速・輸送及び乱流」
  • Place of Presentation: 名古屋大学（愛知県）
  • Year and Date: 2015-03-05 – 2015-03-06
  • Invited
• [Presentation] A new picture of the central engine of kinetic magnetic reconnection (2014)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Organizer: 6th East-Asian Numerical Astrophysics Meeting (EANAM6)
  • Place of Presentation: Kyung Hee University, Suwon, Korea
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-15 – 2014-09-19
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 磁気圏リコネクション研究の現状とMMSミッションへの期待 (2014)
  • Author(s): 銭谷誠司
  • Organizer: GEMSISワークショップ2014
  • Place of Presentation: 名古屋大学（愛知県）
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-09 – 2014-09-10
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 相対論磁気リコネクション (2014)
  • Author(s): 銭谷誠司
  • Organizer: 宇宙プラズマ理論研究会
  • Place of Presentation: 東北大学（宮城県）
  • Year and Date: 2014-08-13 – 2014-08-15
  • Invited
• [Presentation] The structure of the diffusion region in magnetic reconnection (2014)
  • Author(s): Zenitani, S., Hesse, M., Kuznetsova, M., Klimas, A., Umeda, T.
  • Organizer: AOGS 11th Annual Meeting
  • Place of Presentation: ロイトン札幌（北海道）
  • Year and Date: 2014-07-28 – 2014-08-01
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Magnetic diffusion and ion nonlinear dynamics in magnetic reconnection (2014)
  • Author(s): Zenitani, S., Shinohara, I., Nagai, T., Wada, T.
  • Organizer: US Japan Workshop on Magnetic Reconnection (MR 2014)
  • Place of Presentation: 東京大学（東京都）
  • Year and Date: 2014-05-20 – 2014-05-24
  • Invited
• [Presentation] The structure of the diffusion region in collisionless reconnection: Theory, simulation, and observation (2014)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Organizer: Parker reconnection Workshop 2014
  • Place of Presentation: INPE, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 相対論磁気リコネクション研究の現状 (2014)
  • Author(s): 銭谷誠司
  • Organizer: 第７回ブラックホール磁気圏勉強会
  • Place of Presentation: 熊本大学、熊本県
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Our present understanding of the diffusion region in collisionless magnetic reconnection (2014)
  • Author(s): 銭谷誠司
  • Organizer: 磁気リコネクションと太陽プラズマ研究会
  • Place of Presentation: 京都大学東京オフィス、東京都
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Magnetic diffusion and ion nonlinear dynamics in magnetic reconnection (2013)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Organizer: The 11th International School/Symposium for Space Simulations
  • Place of Presentation: National Central University, Taiwan
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Magnetic diffusion and ion nonlinear dynamics in magnetic reconnection (2013)
  • Author(s): Seiji Zenitani
  • Organizer: ISAS Workshop: Magnetospheric Plasmas 2013
  • Place of Presentation: Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Magnetic diffusion and ion nonlinear dynamics in magnetic reconnection (2013)
  • Author(s): Zenitani, S., Shinohara, I., Nagai, T., Wada, T.
  • Organizer: AGU fall meeting 2013
  • Place of Presentation: Moscone Center, San Francisco, USA
• [Presentation] 無衝突リコネクションの磁気拡散領域とイオンの非線形力学 (2013)
  • Author(s): 銭谷誠司, 篠原育, 長井嗣信, 和田智秀
  • Organizer: 日本天文学会秋季年会
  • Place of Presentation: 東北大学、宮城県
• [Book] Magnetic Reconnection (Eds. Walter Gonzalez, Eugene Parker) (2016)
  • Author(s): M. Yamada, J. Yoo, S. Zenitani
  • Publisher: Springer