MAGNETIC RECONNECTION AS A MECHANISM FOR THE GENERATION OF FAST ELECTRONS

Resistive MHD instabilities and associated magnetic reconnection processes underlie the non-linear dynamics of reversed field pinch profiles. Magnetic reconnection is proposed to be also the source mechanism for the generation of the fast electrons often observed in experiments. The simple model proposed accounts for the generation of a small population (approximately 1%) with velocities in the outer region that can be comparable with the plasma bulk thermal velocities and that can contribute significantly to the mean field current density.