Multi-species Ion Acceleration in 3D Magnetic Reconnection with Hybrid-kinetic Simulations

Magnetic reconnection drives multi-species particle acceleration broadly in space and astrophysics. We perform the first 3D hybrid simulations (fluid electrons, kinetic ions) that contain sufficient scale separation to produce nonthermal heavy-ion acceleration, with fragmented flux ropes critical for accelerating all species. We demonstrate the acceleration of all ion species (up to Fe) into power-law spectra with similar indices, by a common Fermi acceleration mechanism. The upstream ion velocities influence the first Fermi reflection for injection. The subsequent onsets of Fermi acceleration are delayed for ions with lower charge-mass ratios (Q/M), until growing flux ropes magnetize them. This leads to a species-dependent maximum energy/nucleon $\propto(Q/M)^\alpha$. These findings are consistent with in-situ observations in reconnection regions, suggesting Fermi acceleration as the dominant multi-species ion acceleration mechanism.
Comment: version accepted by Physical Review Letters