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Title: Synchrotron Pair Production Equilibrium in Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection
Abstract

Magnetic reconnection is ubiquitous in astrophysical systems, and in many such systems the plasma suffers from significant cooling due to synchrotron radiation. We study relativistic magnetic reconnection in the presence of strong synchrotron cooling, where the ambient magnetization,σ, is high and the magnetic compactness,B, of the system is of order unity. In this regime,e±pair production from synchrotron photons is inevitable, and this process can regulate the magnetizationσsurrounding the current sheet. We investigate this self-regulation analytically and find a self-consistent steady state for a given magnetic compactness of the system and initial magnetization. This result helps estimate the self-consistent upstream magnetization in systems where plasma density is poorly constrained, and can be useful for a variety of astrophysical systems. As illustrative examples, we apply it to study the properties of reconnecting current sheets near the supermassive black hole of M87, as well as the equatorial current sheet outside the light cylinder of the Crab pulsar.

 
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Award ID(s):
1903335 1806084
NSF-PAR ID:
10398342
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
944
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0004-637X
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: Article No. 173
Size(s):
["Article No. 173"]
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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