A two-fluid study of oblique tearing modes in a force-free current sheet
Abstract
Kinetic simulations have demonstrated that three-dimensional reconnection in collisionless regimes proceeds through the formation and interaction of magnetic flux ropes, which are generated due to the growth of tearing instabilities at multiple resonance surfaces. Because kinetic simulations are intrinsically expensive, it is desirable to explore the feasibility of reduced two-fluid models to capture this complex evolution, particularly, in the strong guide field regime, where two-fluid models are better justified. With this goal in mind, this paper compares the evolution of the collisionless tearing instability in a force-free current sheet with a two-fluid model and fully kinetic simulations. Our results indicate that the most unstable modes are oblique for guide fields larger than the reconnecting field, in agreement with the kinetic results. The standard two-fluid tearing theory is extended to address the tearing instability at oblique angles. As a results this theory yields a flat oblique spectrum and underestimates the growth of oblique modes in a similar manner to kinetic theory relative to kinetic simulations.
- Authors:
-
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA (United States)
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1240683
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1236411
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-15-28915
Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X; PHPAEN
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physics of Plasmas
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 23; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; oblique modes; tearing; electron dissipation regions
Citation Formats
Akçay, Cihan, Daughton, William, Lukin, Vyacheslav S., and Liu, Yi-Hsin. A two-fluid study of oblique tearing modes in a force-free current sheet. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.4940945.
Akçay, Cihan, Daughton, William, Lukin, Vyacheslav S., & Liu, Yi-Hsin. A two-fluid study of oblique tearing modes in a force-free current sheet. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4940945
Akçay, Cihan, Daughton, William, Lukin, Vyacheslav S., and Liu, Yi-Hsin. Fri .
"A two-fluid study of oblique tearing modes in a force-free current sheet". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4940945. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1240683.
@article{osti_1240683,
title = {A two-fluid study of oblique tearing modes in a force-free current sheet},
author = {Akçay, Cihan and Daughton, William and Lukin, Vyacheslav S. and Liu, Yi-Hsin},
abstractNote = {Kinetic simulations have demonstrated that three-dimensional reconnection in collisionless regimes proceeds through the formation and interaction of magnetic flux ropes, which are generated due to the growth of tearing instabilities at multiple resonance surfaces. Because kinetic simulations are intrinsically expensive, it is desirable to explore the feasibility of reduced two-fluid models to capture this complex evolution, particularly, in the strong guide field regime, where two-fluid models are better justified. With this goal in mind, this paper compares the evolution of the collisionless tearing instability in a force-free current sheet with a two-fluid model and fully kinetic simulations. Our results indicate that the most unstable modes are oblique for guide fields larger than the reconnecting field, in agreement with the kinetic results. The standard two-fluid tearing theory is extended to address the tearing instability at oblique angles. As a results this theory yields a flat oblique spectrum and underestimates the growth of oblique modes in a similar manner to kinetic theory relative to kinetic simulations.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4940945},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 1,
volume = 23,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
Influence of 3D plasmoid dynamics on the transition from collisional to kinetic reconnection
journal, July 2019
- Stanier, A.; Daughton, W.; Le, A.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 7
Relativistic Tearing Mode in Pair Plasmas and Application to Magnetic Giant Flares
journal, July 2019
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