Ion tearing in a magnetotail configuration with an embedded thin current sheet

Journal Article · Sun Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Journal of Geophysical Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/92JA01523· OSTI ID:166709

Burkhart, G R; Dusenbery, P B; Speiser, T W ^[1]; Drake, J F ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)

The ion tearing instability is investigated in a magnetotail configuration that consists of a diffuse plasma sheet current and an embedded, thin current sheet with a strong current. For historical reasons, the thin embedded current sheet will be called a {open_quotes}neutral sheet{close_quotes}, even though the normal component of the magnetic field, B{sub n}, is nonzero. In particular, the authors assume that the current within the thin current sheet is due to the acceleration of {open_quotes}Speiserlike{close_quotes} ion trajectories by a cross-tail electric field E{sub y}. It is found that the strong current within the neutral sheet is essentially unimportant to the growth rate of the tearing instability, and that the growth rate scales as ({lambda}{sub 0}/L{sub z}){sup 2}, where L{sub z} is the overall half thickness of the plasma sheet, {lambda}{sub 0} is the ion inertial length, c/{omega}{sub pi}, and {omega}{sub pi} is the ion plasma frequency at the neutral sheet edge. In the absence of the current outside the neutral sheet, current filamentation is stable. 37 refs., 3 figs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 166709
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research Journal Issue: A11 Vol. 97; ISSN JGREA2; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
INSTABILITY GROWTH RATES
MAGNETOTAIL
PLASMA SHEET
TEARING INSTABILITY