Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection in the Presence of Initial Guide Field

By using the method of 2-dimensional, 3-component full particle simulation, collisionless magnetic reconnection in the presence of various initial guide fields and the Harris current sheet with 1-dimensional initial state are studied. The results show that strong guide fields with Bz0 > 0.5B0 can evidently alter not only the trajectory of the particles, but also the structure of the electric and velocity fields in the vicinity of the reconnection region, thereby affecting the rate of reconnection and the acceleration of electrons. The generalized Ohm's law is employed to interpret the structural characteristics of the electric fields with various guide fields. Also, via the tracing of the electron beam near he diffusion region, it is revealed that in the 2-D model, for both strong and weak guide fields, the induced electric field perpendicular to the simulation plane at the center of the diffusion region plays the major role in the acceleration of electrons. The contribution of the planar electric field outside the diffusion region is very small.