Formation of Plasmoid Chains in Magnetic Reconnection

Journal Article · Fri Sep 04 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.103.105004· OSTI ID:21364675

Samtaney, R ^[1]; Loureiro, N F ^[2]; Uzdensky, D A ^[3]; Schekochihin, A A ^[4]; Cowley, S C ^[2]

---

1. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)
2. EURATOM/UKAEA Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, OX14 3DB (United Kingdom)
3. Department of Astrophysical Sciences/CMSO, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)
4. Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3NP (United Kingdom)

A detailed numerical study of magnetic reconnection in resistive MHD for very large, previously inaccessible, Lundquist numbers (10{sup 4}<=S<=10{sup 8}) is reported. Large-aspect-ratio Sweet-Parker current sheets are shown to be unstable to super-Alfvenically fast formation of plasmoid (magnetic-island) chains. The plasmoid number scales as S{sup 3/8} and the instability growth rate in the linear stage as S{sup 1/4}, in agreement with the theory by Loureiro et al.[Phys. Plasmas 14, 100703 (2007)]. In the nonlinear regime, plasmoids continue to grow faster than they are ejected and completely disrupt the reconnection layer. These results suggest that high-Lundquist-number reconnection is inherently time-dependent and hence call for a substantial revision of the standard Sweet-Parker quasistationary picture for S>10{sup 4}.

• OSTI ID: 21364675
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 103; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASPECT RATIO
DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INSTABILITY GROWTH RATES
LAYERS
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MATHEMATICS
MECHANICS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PLASMA
PLASMOIDS
TIME DEPENDENCE