Particle Injection in Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection

Relativistic magnetic reconnection has been proposed as an important nonthermal particle acceleration (NTPA) mechanism that generates power-law spectra and high-energy emissions. Power-law particle spectra are in general characterized by three parameters: the power-law index, the high-energy cutoff, and the low-energy cutoff (i.e., the injection energy). Particle injection into the nonthermal power law, despite also being a critical step in the NTPA chain, has received considerably less attention than the subsequent acceleration to high energies. Open questions on particle injection that are important for both physical understanding and astronomical observations include how the upstream magnetization σ influences (a) the injection energy and (b) the contributions of the known injection mechanisms (i.e., direct acceleration by the reconnection electric field, Fermi kicks, and pickup acceleration) to the injected particle population. Using fully-kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, we uncover and attempt to explain these relationships by systematically measuring the injection energy and calculating the contributions of each injection mechanism to the total injected particle population. We also compare 2D and 3D simulations to assess the impact of the flux-rope kink instability on particle injection. Lastly, we briefly discuss the observational implications of our results.