Particle Acceleration Mechanisms

Abstract

This chapter provides a short tutorial review on particle acceleration in dynamic electromagnetic fields under scenarios relevant to the problem of particle acceleration in the solar corona and solar wind during solar eruptions. It concentrates on fundamental aspects of the acceleration process and refrains from presenting detailed modeling of the specific conditions in solar eruptive plasmas. All particle acceleration mechanisms (in the solar corona) are related to electric fields that can persist in the highly conductive plasma: either electrostatic (or potential) or inductive related to temporally variable magnetic fields through Faraday's law. Mechanisms involving both kinds of fields are included in the tutorial.