• Accepted Paper

Kinetic pathway for electron energization during strong guide-field magnetic reconnection

Sonu Yadav, Thomas Rood, Earl Scime, Peiyun Shi, Jongsoo Yoo, and Gregory G. Howes

Phys. Rev. Lett. - Accepted 24 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w5l7-jc9r

Abstract

Here, we present direct, time-resolved measurements of resonant wave–particle interactions during strong guide-field magnetic reconnection in the PHAse Space MApping (PHASMA) experiment. Correlated measurements of lower-hybrid drift waves (LHDWs) and electron velocity distribution functions (EVDFs), obtained from reproducible reconnection discharges, reveal that coherent finite-k∥ LHDWs develop at the reconnection separatrix and produce discrete velocity-space enhancements within the thermal electron population at velocities matching the measured parallel phase velocities, v_{ph}=omega/k_{}. As the wave activity saturates and decays, these resonant structures broaden into plateaus on a timescale of ~2 microsecond, in quantitative agreement with the quasilinear relaxation time independently inferred from the measured wave amplitudes, coherence times, and plateau widths. These measurements establish a direct experimental link between lower-hybrid wave activity and resonant electron energization during magnetic reconnection, identifying a kinetic pathway for magnetic-energy conversion.

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