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Title: Role of the Plasmoid Instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence

Abstract

The plasmoid instability in evolving current sheets has been widely studied due to its effects on the disruption of current sheets, the formation of plasmoids, and the resultant fast magnetic reconnection. In this Letter, we study the role of the plasmoid instability in two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence by means of high-resolution direct numerical simulations. At a sufficiently large magnetic Reynolds number (Rm = 106), the combined effects of dynamic alignment and turbulent intermittency lead to a copious formation of plasmoids in a multitude of intense current sheets. The disruption of current sheet structures facilitates the energy cascade towards small scales, leading to the breaking and steepening of the energy spectrum. In the plasmoid-mediated regime, the energy spectrum displays a scaling that is close to the spectral index –2.2 as proposed by recent analytic theories. In conclusion, we also demonstrate that the scale-dependent dynamic alignment exists in 2D MHD turbulence and the corresponding slope of the alignment angle is close to 0.25.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States). Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences and Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.
  2. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States). Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences and Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.; Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Astronomy and Columbia Astrophysics Lab.
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
OSTI Identifier:
1484228
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1478600; OSTI ID: 1604343
Grant/Contract Number:  
AGS-1338944; AGS-1460169; PHY-1229408; SC0016470; SC0006670; NNX13AK31G
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 121; Journal Issue: 16; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING

Citation Formats

Dong, Chuanfei, Wang, Liang, Huang, Yi -Min, Comisso, Luca, and Bhattacharjee, Amitava. Role of the Plasmoid Instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.165101.
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Dong, Chuanfei, Wang, Liang, Huang, Yi -Min, Comisso, Luca, & Bhattacharjee, Amitava. Role of the Plasmoid Instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.165101
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Dong, Chuanfei, Wang, Liang, Huang, Yi -Min, Comisso, Luca, and Bhattacharjee, Amitava. Wed . "Role of the Plasmoid Instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.165101. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1484228.
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@article{osti_1484228,
title = {Role of the Plasmoid Instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence},
author = {Dong, Chuanfei and Wang, Liang and Huang, Yi -Min and Comisso, Luca and Bhattacharjee, Amitava},
abstractNote = {The plasmoid instability in evolving current sheets has been widely studied due to its effects on the disruption of current sheets, the formation of plasmoids, and the resultant fast magnetic reconnection. In this Letter, we study the role of the plasmoid instability in two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence by means of high-resolution direct numerical simulations. At a sufficiently large magnetic Reynolds number (Rm = 106), the combined effects of dynamic alignment and turbulent intermittency lead to a copious formation of plasmoids in a multitude of intense current sheets. The disruption of current sheet structures facilitates the energy cascade towards small scales, leading to the breaking and steepening of the energy spectrum. In the plasmoid-mediated regime, the energy spectrum displays a scaling that is close to the spectral index –2.2 as proposed by recent analytic theories. In conclusion, we also demonstrate that the scale-dependent dynamic alignment exists in 2D MHD turbulence and the corresponding slope of the alignment angle is close to 0.25.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.165101},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 16,
volume = 121,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 17 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Oct 17 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.165101
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Cited by: 54 works
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Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1 FIG. 1: 2D contour plots of the current density $J$z at t = 0.2 for the simulation with magnetic Reynolds number $R$$m$ = 1 x 106. Zoomed-in subdomains are used for the illustration of plasmoids. Copious formation of plasmoids occurs in multiple intense current sheets because of the plasmoid instability.
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

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    Spectral signatures of recursive magnetic field reconnection
    text, January 2019

    Scalings Pertaining to Current Sheet Disruption Mediated by the Plasmoid Instability
    text, January 2019

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