Blazar flares against reconnection models

While many models explain the slower, lower energy variability, they cannot easily account for such fast flares reaching hour-to-minute time scales. Magnetic reconnection, a process where magnetic energy is converted to the acceleration of relativistic particles in the reconnection layer, is a candidate solution to this problem.

In this work, we employ state-of-the-art particle-in-cell simulations in a statistical comparison with observations of a flaring episode of a well-known blazar, Mrk 421, at very high energy (VHE, E above 100GeV). We tested the predictions of our model by generating simulated VHE light curves that we compared quantitatively with methods that we have developed for a precise evaluation of theoretical and observed data. With our analysis, we can constrain the parameter space of the model, such as the magnetic field strength of the unreconnected plasma, viewing angle and the reconnection layer orientation in the blazar jet.