Magnetic Energy Release, Plasma Dynamics and Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection

Relativistic magnetic reconnection is thought to be a primary process for explosive energy release and particle acceleration. A less explored issue is the consequence of 3D dynamics, where turbulent structures are generated as various types of instabilities develop. We present 3D fully-kinetic simulations of relativistic turbulent magnetic reconnection (RTMR) in positron-electron plasmas with system domains much larger than kinetic scales. Our simulations start from a force-free current sheet with several modes of long wavelength magnetic perturbations, which drive additional turbulence in the reconnection region. The current layer breaks up and the reconnection region quickly evolves into a turbulent layer filled with coherent structures like flux ropes and current sheets.  We find that plasma dynamics in RTMR is vastly different from their 2D counterparts. The flux ropes evolve rapidly after their generation, and can be disrupted due to the secondary kink instability. We present analysis on reconnection generated turbulence. Meanwhile, nonthermal particle acceleration and energy-release time scale are fast and do not strongly depend on the turbulence amplitude. The main acceleration mechanism is a Fermi-like acceleration process supported by the motional electric field.