General theory of the plasmoid instability
Abstract
In a general theory of the onset and development of the plasmoid instability is formulated by means of a principle of least time. We derive and show the scaling relations for the final aspect ratio, transition time to rapid onset, growth rate, and number of plasmoids that depend on the initial perturbation amplitude ($$\hat{w}$$0), the characteristic rate of current sheet evolution (1/τ), and the Lundquist number (S). They are not simple power laws, and are proportional to Sατβ[ln f(S,τ,$$\hat{w}$$0)]σ. Finally, the detailed dynamics of the instability is also elucidated, and shown to comprise of a period of quiescence followed by sudden growth over a short time scale.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1];
[1];
[1]
- Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. and Center for Heliophysics
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1335153
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1328526
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AGS-1338944; AGS-1460169; AC02-09CH11466
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physics of Plasmas
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 23; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Citation Formats
Comisso, L., Lingam, M., Huang, Y. -M., and Bhattacharjee, A. General theory of the plasmoid instability. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.4964481.
Comisso, L., Lingam, M., Huang, Y. -M., & Bhattacharjee, A. General theory of the plasmoid instability. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4964481
Comisso, L., Lingam, M., Huang, Y. -M., and Bhattacharjee, A. Wed .
"General theory of the plasmoid instability". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4964481. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1335153.
@article{osti_1335153,
title = {General theory of the plasmoid instability},
author = {Comisso, L. and Lingam, M. and Huang, Y. -M. and Bhattacharjee, A.},
abstractNote = {In a general theory of the onset and development of the plasmoid instability is formulated by means of a principle of least time. We derive and show the scaling relations for the final aspect ratio, transition time to rapid onset, growth rate, and number of plasmoids that depend on the initial perturbation amplitude ($\hat{w}$0), the characteristic rate of current sheet evolution (1/τ), and the Lundquist number (S). They are not simple power laws, and are proportional to Sατβ[ln f(S,τ,$\hat{w}$0)]σ. Finally, the detailed dynamics of the instability is also elucidated, and shown to comprise of a period of quiescence followed by sudden growth over a short time scale.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4964481},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 10,
volume = 23,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Oct 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 98 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Reduced magnetohydrodynamic theory of oblique plasmoid instabilities
journal, February 2012
- Baalrud, S. D.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Huang, Y. -M.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 2
Fast reconnection in high-Lundquist-number plasmas due to the plasmoid Instability
journal, November 2009
- Bhattacharjee, A.; Huang, Yi-Min; Yang, H.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 11
Scaling of Sweet–Parker reconnection with secondary islands
journal, December 2009
- Cassak, P. A.; Shay, M. A.; Drake, J. F.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 12
Plasmoid instability in high-Lundquist-number magnetic reconnection
journal, May 2013
- Huang, Yi-Min; Bhattacharjee, A.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 5
Plasmoid and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in Sweet-Parker current sheets
journal, January 2013
- Loureiro, N. F.; Schekochihin, A. A.; Uzdensky, D. A.
- Physical Review E, Vol. 87, Issue 1
Reconnection of Quasi-Singular Current Sheets: the “Ideal” Tearing mode
journal, December 2013
- Pucci, Fulvia; Velli, Marco
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 780, Issue 2
Phase diagram for magnetic reconnection in heliophysical, astrophysical, and laboratory plasmas
journal, November 2011
- Ji, Hantao; Daughton, William
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 11
Forced magnetic reconnection
journal, January 1985
- Hahm, T. S.; Kulsrud, R. M.
- Physics of Fluids, Vol. 28, Issue 8
Formation of Plasmoid Chains in Magnetic Reconnection
journal, September 2009
- Samtaney, R.; Loureiro, N. F.; Uzdensky, D. A.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 10
Forced reconnection and current sheet formation in Taylor’s model
journal, March 1992
- Wang, Xiaogang; Bhattacharjee, A.
- Physics of Fluids B: Plasma Physics, Vol. 4, Issue 7
The plasmoid instability during asymmetric inflow magnetic reconnection
journal, June 2013
- Murphy, Nicholas A.; Young, Aleida K.; Shen, Chengcai
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 6
Phase diagrams of forced magnetic reconnection in Taylor’s model
journal, July 2015
- Comisso, L.; Grasso, D.; Waelbroeck, F. L.
- Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 5
In situ evidence of magnetic reconnection in turbulent plasma
journal, March 2007
- Retinò, A.; Sundkvist, D.; Vaivads, A.
- Nature Physics, Vol. 3, Issue 4
MESSENGER Observations of Magnetic Reconnection in Mercury's Magnetosphere
journal, April 2009
- Slavin, J. A.; Acuna, M. H.; Anderson, B. J.
- Science, Vol. 324, Issue 5927
Instability of current sheets and formation of plasmoid chains
journal, October 2007
- Loureiro, N. F.; Schekochihin, A. A.; Cowley, S. C.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 10
Fast Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Chromosphere Mediated by the Plasmoid Instability
journal, January 2015
- Ni, Lei; Kliem, Bernhard; Lin, Jun
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 799, Issue 1
Scaling laws of resistive magnetohydrodynamic reconnection in the high-Lundquist-number, plasmoid-unstable regime
journal, June 2010
- Huang, Yi-Min; Bhattacharjee, A.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 6
Transition from collisional to kinetic regimes in large-scale reconnection layers
journal, August 2009
- Daughton, W.; Roytershteyn, V.; Albright, B. J.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 6
Magnetic Reconnection Onset via Disruption of a Forming Current Sheet by the Tearing Instability
journal, March 2016
- Uzdensky, D. A.; Loureiro, N. F.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 10
Plasmoids Formation During Simulations of Coaxial Helicity Injection in the National Spherical Torus Experiment
journal, May 2015
- Ebrahimi, F.; Raman, R.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 20
Magnetic reconnection and stochastic plasmoid chains in high-Lundquist-number plasmas
journal, April 2012
- Loureiro, N. F.; Samtaney, R.; Schekochihin, A. A.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 4
Visco-resistive plasmoid instability
journal, March 2016
- Comisso, Luca; Grasso, Daniela
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 3
Magnetic Reconnection in Astrophysical and Laboratory Plasmas
journal, September 2009
- Zweibel, Ellen G.; Yamada, Masaaki
- Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 47, Issue 1
Power laws, Pareto distributions and Zipf's law
journal, September 2005
- Newman, Mej
- Contemporary Physics, Vol. 46, Issue 5
Extended theory of the Taylor problem in the plasmoid-unstable regime
journal, April 2015
- Comisso, L.; Grasso, D.; Waelbroeck, F. L.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 4
Linear plasmoid instability of thin current sheets with shear flow
journal, May 2010
- Ni, Lei; Germaschewski, Kai; Huang, Yi-Min
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 5
A numerical study of forced magnetic reconnection in the viscous Taylor problem
journal, June 2003
- Fitzpatrick, Richard
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 10, Issue 6
Finite-Resistivity Instabilities of a Sheet Pinch
journal, January 1963
- Furth, Harold P.; Killeen, John; Rosenbluth, Marshall N.
- Physics of Fluids, Vol. 6, Issue 4
Imaging coronal magnetic-field reconnection in a solar flare
journal, July 2013
- Su, Yang; Veronig, Astrid M.; Holman, Gordon D.
- Nature Physics, Vol. 9, Issue 8
Onset of fast reconnection in Hall magnetohydrodynamics mediated by the plasmoid instability
journal, July 2011
- Huang, Yi-Min; Bhattacharjee, A.; Sullivan, Brian P.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 7
Works referencing / citing this record:
MMS Examination of FTEs at the Earth's Subsolar Magnetopause
journal, February 2018
- Akhavan-Tafti, M.; Slavin, J. A.; Le, G.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 123, Issue 2
MMS Multi‐Point Analysis of FTE Evolution: Physical Characteristics and Dynamics
journal, July 2019
- Akhavan‐Tafti, M.; Slavin, J. A.; Eastwood, J. P.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 124, Issue 7
Global Ten‐Moment Multifluid Simulations of the Solar Wind Interaction with Mercury: From the Planetary Conducting Core to the Dynamic Magnetosphere
journal, November 2019
- Dong, Chuanfei; Wang, Liang; Hakim, Ammar
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 21
On the periodicity of linear and nonlinear oscillatory reconnection
journal, January 2019
- Thurgood, J. O.; Pontin, D. I.; McLaughlin, J. A.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 621
Nonlinear reconnecting edge localized modes in current-carrying plasmas
journal, May 2017
- Ebrahimi, F.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 5
Magnetic island dynamics in magnetic reconnection in UTST experiments
journal, January 2018
- Kamio, S.; Inomoto, M.; Yamasaki, K.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 1
On the role of system size in Hall MHD magnetic reconnection
journal, February 2018
- Bard, C.; Dorelli, J. C.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 2
A maximum entropy principle for inferring the distribution of 3D plasmoids
journal, January 2018
- Lingam, Manasvi; Comisso, Luca
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 1
Relativistic-amplitude electromagnetic waves—Beating the “magnetic” barrier
journal, July 2018
- Mahajan, Swadesh; Lingam, Manasvi
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 7
Regimes of magnetic reconnection in colliding laser-produced magnetized plasma bubbles
journal, September 2018
- Lezhnin, K. V.; Fox, W.; Matteucci, J.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 9
Candidate explanation for the mild core oscillations in dominant electron heating scenario on experimental advanced superconducting tokamak
journal, November 2018
- Li, Erzhong; Zang, Q.; Liu, H.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 11
Two-fluid nonlinear theory of response of tokamak plasma to resonant magnetic perturbation
journal, November 2018
- Fitzpatrick, Richard
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 11
On the effect of parallel shear flow on the plasmoid instability
journal, October 2018
- Hosseinpour, M.; Chen, Y.; Zenitani, S.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 10
Wavelet methods for studying the onset of strong plasma turbulence
journal, December 2018
- Le, A.; Roytershteyn, V.; Karimabadi, H.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 12
Three-dimensional plasmoid-mediated reconnection and the effect of toroidal guide field in simulations of coaxial helicity injection
journal, September 2019
- Ebrahimi, F.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 9
Resistive stability of cylindrical MHD equilibria with radially localized pressure gradients
journal, June 2019
- Wright, A. M.; Hudson, S. R.; Dewar, R. L.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 6
Influence of 3D plasmoid dynamics on the transition from collisional to kinetic reconnection
journal, July 2019
- Stanier, A.; Daughton, W.; Le, A.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 7
Scalings pertaining to current sheet disruption mediated by the plasmoid instability
journal, September 2019
- Huang, Yi-Min; Comisso, Luca; Bhattacharjee, Amitava
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 9
Plasmoid statistics in relativistic magnetic reconnection
journal, January 2018
- Petropoulou, M.; Christie, I. M.; Sironi, L.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 475, Issue 3
The steady growth of the high-energy spectral cut-off in relativistic magnetic reconnection
journal, October 2018
- Petropoulou, Maria; Sironi, Lorenzo
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 481, Issue 4
Role of Magnetic Reconnection in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
journal, June 2017
- Loureiro, Nuno F.; Boldyrev, Stanislav
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 118, Issue 24
Role of the Plasmoid Instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
journal, October 2018
- Dong, Chuanfei; Wang, Liang; Huang, Yi-Min
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 121, Issue 16
Exploring astrophysics-relevant magnetohydrodynamics with pulsed-power laboratory facilities
journal, April 2019
- Lebedev, S. V.; Frank, A.; Ryutov, D. D.
- Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 91, Issue 2
Blob Formation and Ejection in Coronal Jets due to the Plasmoid and Kelvin–Helmholtz Instabilities
journal, May 2017
- Ni, Lei; Zhang, Qing-Min; Murphy, Nicholas A.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 841, Issue 1
Fast Magnetic Reconnection: “Ideal” Tearing and the Hall Effect
journal, August 2017
- Pucci, Fulvia; Velli, Marco; Tenerani, Anna
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 845, Issue 1
Magnetic Reconnection in Strongly Magnetized Regions of the Low Solar Chromosphere
journal, January 2018
- Ni, Lei; Lukin, Vyacheslav S.; Murphy, Nicholas A.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 852, Issue 2
The Propitious Role of Solar Energetic Particles in the Origin of Life
journal, January 2018
- Lingam, Manasvi; Dong, Chuanfei; Fang, Xiaohua
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 853, Issue 1
Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence in the Plasmoid-mediated Regime
journal, February 2018
- Comisso, L.; Huang, Y. -M.; Lingam, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 854, Issue 2
Stochastic Reconnection for Large Magnetic Prandtl Numbers
journal, June 2018
- Jafari, Amir; Vishniac, Ethan T.; Kowal, Grzegorz
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 860, Issue 1
Large-scale Compression Acceleration during Magnetic Reconnection in a Low- β Plasma
journal, October 2018
- Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 866, Issue 1
Evidence for Downflows in the Narrow Plasma Sheet of 2017 September 10 and Their Significance for Flare Reconnection
journal, December 2018
- Longcope, Dana; Unverferth, John; Klein, Courtney
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 868, Issue 2
Subarcsecond Blobs in Flare-related Coronal Jets
journal, January 2019
- Zhang, Q. M.; Ni, L.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 870, Issue 2
Relativistic Tearing Mode in Pair Plasmas and Application to Magnetic Giant Flares
journal, July 2019
- Yang, S. D.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 880, Issue 1
Relativistic Sweet–Parker Current Sheet and Its Macroscopic Evolution
journal, September 2019
- Yang, S. D.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 882, Issue 2
Relativistic Plasmoid Instability in Pair Plasmas
journal, September 2019
- Yang, S. D.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 882, Issue 2
The Interplay of Magnetically Dominated Turbulence and Magnetic Reconnection in Producing Nonthermal Particles
journal, November 2019
- Comisso, Luca; Sironi, Lorenzo
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 886, Issue 2
A Maximum Entropy Principle for inferring the Distribution of 3D Plasmoids
text, January 2017
- Lingam, Manasvi; Comisso, Luca
- arXiv
Fast Magnetic Reconnection: "Ideal" Tearing and the Hall Effect
text, January 2017
- Pucci, Fulvia; Velli, Marco; Tenerani, Anna
- arXiv
Blob formation and ejection in coronal jets due to the plasmoid and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities
text, January 2017
- Ni, Lei; Zhang, Qing-Min; Murphy, Nicholas A.
- arXiv
Plasmoid statistics in relativistic magnetic reconnection
text, January 2017
- Petropoulou, M.; Christie, I. M.; Sironi, L.
- arXiv
Magnetic reconnection in strongly magnetized regions of the low solar chromosphere
text, January 2017
- Ni, Lei; Lukin, Vyacheslav S.; Murphy, Nicholas A.
- arXiv
Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence in the Plasmoid-Mediated Regime
text, January 2018
- Comisso, L.; Huang, Y. -M.; Lingam, M.
- arXiv
Role of the Plasmoid Instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
text, January 2018
- Dong, Chuanfei; Wang, Liang; Huang, Yi-Min
- arXiv
Two-Fluid Nonlinear Theory of Response of Tokamak Plasma to Resonant Magnetic Perturbation
text, January 2018
- Fitzpatrick, Richard
- arXiv
On the periodicity of linear and nonlinear oscillatory reconnection
text, January 2018
- Thurgood, J. O.; Pontin, D. I.; McLaughlin, J. A.
- arXiv
Wavelet Methods for Studying the Onset of Strong Plasma Turbulence
text, January 2018
- Le, Ari; Roytershteyn, Vadim; Karimabadi, Homa
- arXiv
Scalings Pertaining to Current Sheet Disruption Mediated by the Plasmoid Instability
text, January 2019
- Huang, Yi-Min; Comisso, Luca; Bhattacharjee, Amitava
- arXiv
MHD turbulence: a biased review
journal, October 2022
- Schekochihin, Alexander A.
- Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 88, Issue 5