Instability of current sheets and formation of plasmoid chains

Journal Article · Mon Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2783986· OSTI ID:21057409

Loureiro, N F; Schekochihin, A A; Cowley, S C ^[1]

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1. Center for Multiscale Plasma Dynamics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-3511 (United States) and Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)

Current sheets formed in magnetic reconnection events are found to be unstable to high-wavenumber perturbations. The instability is very fast: its maximum growth rate scales as S{sup 1/4}v{sub A}/L{sub CS}, where L{sub CS} is the length of the sheet, v{sub A} the Alfven speed, and S the Lundquist number. As a result, a chain of plasmoids (secondary islands) is formed, whose number scales as S{sup 3/8}.

• OSTI ID: 21057409
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2783986; (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
ALFVEN WAVES
ASTROPHYSICS
CURRENTS
DISTURBANCES
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
PERTURBATION THEORY
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA SHEET
PLASMOIDS
VELOCITY