%0 Journal Article %T The Acceleration of Ions in Solar Flares During Magnetic Reconnection %A Kalman Knizhnik %A Marc Swisdak %A James F. Drake %J Physics %D 2011 %I arXiv %R 10.1088/2041-8205/743/2/L35 %X The acceleration of solar flare ions during magnetic reconnection is explored via particle-in-cell simulations that self-consistently follow the motions of both protons and $\alpha$ particles. We demonstrate that the dominant ion heating during reconnection with a guide field (a magnetic component perpendicular to the reconnection plane) results from pickup behavior during the entry into reconnection exhausts. In contrast with anti-parallel reconnection, the temperature increment is dominantly transverse, rather than parallel, to the local magnetic field. The comparison of protons and alphas reveals a mass-to-charge ($M/Q$) threshold in pickup behavior that favors heating of high $M/Q$ ions over protons, which is consistent with impulsive flare observations. %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1108.5750v2