  Several models have been suggested to explain the fast gamma-ray variability
observed in blazars, but its origin is still debated. One scenario is magnetic
reconnection, a process that can efficiently convert magnetic energy to energy
of relativistic particles accelerated in the reconnection layer. In our study,
we compare results from state-of-the-art particle-in-cell simulations with
observations of blazars at Very High Energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays. Our
goal is to test our model predictions on fast gamma-ray variability with data
and to constrain the parameter space of the model, such as the magnetic field
strength of the unreconnected plasma and the reconnection layer orientation in
the blazar jet. For this first comparison, we used the remarkably well-sampled
VHE gamma-ray light curve of Mrk 421 observed with the MAGIC and VERITAS
telescopes in 2013.The simulated VHE light curves were generated using the
observable parameters of Mrk 421, such as the jet power, bulk Lorentz factor,
and the jet viewing angle, and sampled as real data. Our results pave the way
for future model-to-data comparison with next-generation Cherenkov telescopes,
which will help further constrain the different variability models.
