New Dissipation Mechanism for Three-Dimensional Current Dissipation/Reconnection in Astrophysical Plasmas
- Department of Physics, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547 (United States)
- Ecole Polytechnique, Centre de Physique Theorique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex (France)
A {open_quote}{open_quote}magnetohydrodynamiclike{close_quote}{close_quote} theory has been previously developed for chaotic nonintegrable proton orbits which occur in highly stressed magnetic configurations. In this paper we give the solution to the Vlasov equation to next order in expansion of the particle bounce motion. The new contribution, a Boltzmann-like operator, provides a collisionless dissipation mechanism which may destabilize drift or drift ballooning Alfv{acute e}n waves in high {beta} plasmas. We discuss a number of applications of this new, potentially reconnective, mechanism in the magnetosphere, in stellar wind formation, and in the galactic dynamo. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
- OSTI ID:
- 402310
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 77, Issue 21; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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