Relativistic reconnection in near critical Schwinger field

Magnetic reconnection in relativistic pair plasma with QED radiation and pair-creation effects in the presence of strong magnetic fields is investigated using 2D particle-in-cell simulations. The simulations are performed with the QED module [1] of the OSIRIS framework that includes photon emission by electrons and positrons and single photon decay into pairs (non-linear Breit-Wheeler). We investigate~the effectiveness of reconnection as a pair- and gamma-ray production~mechanism across a broad range of~reconnecting magnetic fields, including those approaching~the critical~quantum (Schwinger) field, and we also explore how the radiative cooling and pair-production processes affect reconnection.~We find that in~the extreme field regime, the magnetic energy is mostly converted into radiation rather than into particle kinetic energy. This study is a first concrete step towards better understanding of magnetic reconnection as a possible mechanism powering gamma-ray flares in magnetar magnetospheres [2] [1] T. Grismayer et al., Physics of Plasmas 23, 056706 (2016) [2] D.A. Uzdensky, Space Science Reviews 160, 45-71 (2011)