  A new computational model, kglobal, is being developed to explore energetic
electron production via magnetic reconnection in macroscale systems. The model
is based on the discovery that the production of energetic electrons during
reconnection is controlled by Fermi reflection in large-scale magnetic fields
and not by parallel electric fields localized in kinetic scale boundary layers.
Thus, the model eliminates these boundary layers. However, although the
parallel electric fields that develop around the magnetic x-line and associated
separatrices are not important in producing energetic electrons, there is a
large scale electric field that kickstarts the heating of low-energy electrons
and drives the cold-electron return current that accompanies escaping energetic
electrons in open systems. This macroscale electric field is produced by
magnetic-field-aligned gradients in the electron pressure. We have upgraded
kglobal to include this large-scale electric field while maintaining energy
conservation. The new model is tested by exploring the dynamics of electron
acoustic modes which develop as a consequence of the presence of two electron
species: hot kinetic and cold fluid electrons. Remarkably, the damping of
electron acoustic modes is accurately captured by kglobal. Additionally, it has
been established that kglobal correctly describes the dynamics of the
interaction of the parallel electric field with escaping hot electrons through
benchmarking simulations with the Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code p3d.
