Secondary instabilities in two- and three-dimensional magnetic reconnection in fusion relevant plasmas

Journal Article · Tue May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2436483· OSTI ID:20975026

Grasso, D; Borgogno, D; Pegoraro, F ^[1]

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1. Burning Plasma Research Group, Department of Energetics, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin (Italy) and CNISM, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin (Italy)

The fast collisionless reconnection process typical of fusion relevant plasma regimes is analyzed with both two-dimensional and three-dimensional models. The vorticity and current density layers, which typically form in these regimes, are followed during all the phases of their dynamical evolution. Here, these structures are shown to be unstable in the cold electron case to secondary Kelvin-Helmholtz-like instabilities not only in the two-dimensional approximation but also in the full three-dimensional setting.

• OSTI ID: 20975026
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2436483; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
APPROXIMATIONS
CURRENT DENSITY
ELECTRONS
LAYERS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS