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The Adiabatic Phase Mixing and Heating of Electrons in Buneman Turbulence

The nonlinear development of the strong Buneman instability and the associated fast electron heating in thin current layers with $Ω_e/ω_{pe} <1$ are explored. Phase mixing of the electrons in wave potential troughs and a rapid increase in temperature are observed during the saturation of the instability. We show that the motion of trapped electrons can be described using a Hamiltonian formalism in the adiabatic approximation. The process of separatrix crossing as electrons are trapped and de-trapped is irreversible and guarantees that the resulting electron energy gain is a true heating process.