Effects of Ion-to-Electron Mass Ratio on Electron Dynamics in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

A 2.5-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation code is used to investigate electron behaviour in collisionless magnetic reconnection. The results show that the ion/electron mass ratio (m_i/m_e) almost has no impact on the reconnection rate, however it can significantly affect electron behaviour in the diffusion region. For the case with larger mass ratio, the width of electron
current sheet becomes smaller and the outflow region along the separatrix is smaller, hence the peak of the electron outflow speed is essentially larger.
Density cavities and the parallel electric field E_// along the separatrix can be found in the case with larger mass ratio, which may have significant influences on the acceleration and heating of the electrons near the X point.