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Title: Role of electron inertia and electron/ion finite Larmor radius effects in low-beta, magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5046098· OSTI ID:1618115
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]
  1. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
  2. Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

The magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor (MRT) instability has been explored in great detail in previous work using magnetohydrodynamic and kinetic models for low-beta plasmas. The work presented here extends previous studies of this instability to regimes where finite-Larmor-Radius (FLR) effects may be important. Comparisons of the MRT instability are made using a 5-moment and a 10-moment two-fluid model, the two fluids being ions and electrons. The 5-moment model includes Hall stabilization, whereas the 10-moment model includes Hall and FLR stabilization. Results are presented for these two models using different electron mass to understand the role of electron iner- tia in the late-time nonlinear evolution of the MRT instability. For the 5-moment model, the late- time nonlinear MRT evolution does not significantly depend on the electron inertia. Yet, when FLR stabilization is important, the 10-moment results show that a lower ion-to-electron mass ratio (i.e., larger electron inertia) under-predicts the energy in high-wavenumber modes due to larger FLR stabilization.

Research Organization:
Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0016515
OSTI ID:
1618115
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1471443
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 9; ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 5 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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A survey of fluid and kinetic instabilities relevant to space and laboratory plasmas journal February 2019