Tearing Instability in Alfven and Kinetic-Alfven Turbulence

Dataset · Fri Jun 17 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QXBFG2· OSTI ID:1889410

Boldyrev, S. ^[1]; Loureiro, N. F.

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1. OSTI

Recently, it has been realized that magnetic plasma turbulence and magnetic field reconnection are inherently related phenomena. Turbulent fluctuations generate regions of sheared magnetic field that become unstable to the tearing instability and reconnection, thus modifying turbulence at the corresponding scales. In this contribution, we give a brief review of some recent results on tearing-mediated magnetic turbulence.We illustrate the main ideas of this rapidly developing field of study by concentrating on two important examples—magnetohydrodynamic Alfven turbulence and small-scale kinetic-Alfven turbulence. Due to various potential applications of these phenomena in space physics and astrophysics, we specifically try not to overload the text by heavy analytical derivations but rather present a qualitative discussion accessible to a non-expert in the theories of turbulence and reconnection.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Plasma Science and Fusion Center
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
• DOE Contract Number: SC0018266; SC0016215
• OSTI ID: 1889410
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS