Onset of magnetic reconnection in a collisionless, high-β plasma

Alt, Andrew; Kunz, Matthew W.

doi:10.1017/S0022377819000084

Title: Onset of magnetic reconnection in a collisionless, high-β plasma

Journal Article · Wed Feb 27 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Plasma Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377819000084· OSTI ID:1547059

^[1];

^[1]

Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

In a magnetized, collisionless plasma, the magnetic moment of the constituent particles is an adiabatic invariant. An increase in the magnetic-field strength in such a plasma hence leads to an increase in the thermal pressure perpendicular to the field lines. Above a $$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$$-dependent threshold (where $$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$$ is the ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure), this pressure anisotropy drives the mirror instability, producing strong distortions in the field lines on ion-Larmor scales. The effect of this instability on magnetic reconnection is investigated using a simple analytical model for the formation of a current sheet (CS) and the associated production of pressure anisotropy. The difficulty in maintaining an isotropic, Maxwellian particle distribution during the formation and subsequent thinning of a CS in a collisionless plasma, coupled with the low threshold for the mirror instability in a high-$$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$$plasma, imply that the geometry of reconnecting magnetic fields can differ radically from the standard Harris-sheet profile often used in simulations of collisionless reconnection. Because of this, depending on the rate of CS formation and the initial CS thickness, tearing modes whose growth rates and wavenumbers are boosted by this difference may disrupt the mirror-infested CS before standard tearing modes can develop. A quantitative theory is developed to illustrate this process, which may find application in the tearing-mediated disruption of kinetic magnetorotational ‘channel’ modes.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-09CH11466

OSTI ID:: 1547059

Journal Information:: Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 85, Issue 1; ISSN 0022-3778

Publisher:: Cambridge University PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 5 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (82)

Current sheets and nonlinear growth of the m =1 kink‐tearing mode Waelbroeck, F. L. Physics of Fluids B: Plasma Physics, Vol. 1, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.859172	journal	December 1989
Fast reconnection in high-Lundquist-number plasmas due to the plasmoid Instability Bhattacharjee, A.; Huang, Yi-Min; Yang, H. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3264103	journal	November 2009
Linear Vlasov Theory in the Shearing Sheet Approximation with Application to the Magneto-Rotational Instability Heinemann, Tobias; Quataert, Eliot The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 792, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/70	journal	August 2014
Tearing instability in an anisotropic neutral sheet Chen, James; Palmadesso, P. Physics of Fluids, Vol. 27, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.864727	journal	January 1984
Local Two-Dimensional Particle-In-Cell Simulations of the Collisionless Magnetorotational Instability Riquelme, Mario A.; Quataert, Eliot; Sharma, Prateek The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 755, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/755/1/50	journal	July 2012
The intracluster magnetic field power spectrum in A2199 Vacca, V.; Murgia, M.; Govoni, F. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 540 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201116622	journal	March 2012
Plasmoid Instability in Evolving Current Sheets and Onset of Fast Reconnection Huang, Yi-Min; Comisso, Luca; Bhattacharjee, A. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 849, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa906d	journal	November 2017
Mirror instability: 1. Physical mechanism of linear instability Southwood, David J.; Kivelson, Margaret G. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 98, Issue A6 https://doi.org/10.1029/92JA02837	journal	January 1993
Nonlinear growth of the tearing mode Rutherford, P. H. Physics of Fluids, Vol. 16, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1694232	journal	January 1973
Magnetic turbulence in cool cores of galaxy clusters Enßlin, T. A.; Vogt, C. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 453, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053518	journal	June 2006
Simulation of the collisionless tearing instability in an anisotropic neutral sheet Ambrosiano, John; Lee, Lou C.; Fu, Z. F. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 91, Issue A1 https://doi.org/10.1029/JA091iA01p00113	journal	January 1986
Electron temperature anisotropy effects on tearing mode in ion-scale current sheets Haijima, K.; Tanaka, K. G.; Fujimoto, M. Advances in Space Research, Vol. 41, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2007.05.049	journal	January 2008
Collisionless Reconnection in Magnetohydrodynamic and Kinetic Turbulence Loureiro, Nuno F.; Boldyrev, Stanislav The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 850, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa9754	journal	December 2017
The intracluster magnetic field power spectrum in Abell 2382 Guidetti, D.; Murgia, M.; Govoni, F. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 483, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20078576	journal	December 2007
Nonlinear Growth of Firehose and Mirror Fluctuations in Astrophysical Plasmas Schekochihin, A. A.; Cowley, S. C.; Kulsrud, R. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.081301	journal	February 2008
Fast magnetic reconnection due to anisotropic electron pressure Cassak, P. A.; Baylor, R. N.; Fermo, R. L. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4908545	journal	February 2015
Hybrid simulations of magnetic reconnection with kinetic ions and fluid electron pressure anisotropy Le, A.; Daughton, W.; Karimabadi, H. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4943893	journal	March 2016
Electron acceleration from contracting magnetic islands during reconnection Drake, J. F.; Swisdak, M.; Che, H. Nature, Vol. 443, Issue 7111 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05116	journal	October 2006
Collisionless magnetic reconnection with arbitrary guide field Fitzpatrick, Richard; Porcelli, Franco Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 11, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1791640	journal	October 2004
Comment on the linear mirror instability near the threshold Hellinger, Petr Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2768318	journal	August 2007
The Magnetorotational Instability in a Collisionless Plasma Quataert, Eliot; Dorland, William; Hammett, Gregory W. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 577, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/342174	journal	September 2002
Kinetic theory of tearing instabilities Drake, J. F.; Lee, Y. C. Physics of Fluids, Vol. 20, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.862017	journal	January 1977
A powerful local shear instability in weakly magnetized disks. I - Linear analysis. II - Nonlinear evolution Balbus, Steven A.; Hawley, John F. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 376 https://doi.org/10.1086/170270	journal	July 1991
Turbulence, magnetic fields, and plasma physics in clusters of galaxies Schekochihin, A. A.; Cowley, S. C. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 13, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2179053	journal	May 2006
The Three-Dimensional Evolution of Ion-Scale Current Sheets: Tearing and Drift-Kink Instabilities in the Presence of Proton Temperature Anisotropy Gingell, P. W.; Burgess, D.; Matteini, L. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 802, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/802/1/4	journal	March 2015
Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence Mediated by Reconnection Boldyrev, Stanislav; Loureiro, Nuno F. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 844, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa7d02	journal	July 2017
A study of tearing instability in the presence of a pressure anisotropy Shi, Y.; Lee, L. C.; Fu, Z. F. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 92, Issue A11 https://doi.org/10.1029/JA092iA11p12171	journal	January 1987
The Boltzmann equation an d the one-fluid hydromagnetic equations in the absence of particle collisions Chew, G. F.; Goldberger, M. L.; Low, F. E. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 236, Issue 1204, p. 112-118 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1956.0116	journal	July 1956
Instability of current sheets and formation of plasmoid chains Loureiro, N. F.; Schekochihin, A. A.; Cowley, S. C. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2783986	journal	October 2007
Development of tearing instability in a current sheet forming by sheared incompressible flow Tolman, Elizabeth A.; Loureiro, Nuno F.; Uzdensky, Dmitri A. Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 84, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002237781800017X	journal	February 2018
Sweet's mechanism for merging magnetic fields in conducting fluids Parker, E. N. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 62, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1029/JZ062i004p00509	journal	December 1957
Linear theory of anisotropy driven modes in a Harris neutral sheet Quest, K. B.; Karimabadi, H.; Daughton, W. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3309731	journal	February 2010
Drift Mirror Instability in the Magnetosphere Hasegawa, Akira Physics of Fluids, Vol. 12, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1692407	journal	January 1969
Magnetorotational Turbulence and Dynamo in a Collisionless Plasma Kunz, Matthew W.; Stone, James M.; Quataert, Eliot Physical Review Letters, Vol. 117, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.235101	journal	December 2016
Magnetic Reconnection Onset via Disruption of a Forming Current Sheet by the Tearing Instability Uzdensky, D. A.; Loureiro, N. F. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.105003	journal	March 2016
Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flow Models of Sgr A* Quataert, Eliot Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 324, Issue S1 https://doi.org/10.1002/asna.200385043	journal	September 2003
Erratum: Collisionless magnetic reconnection with arbitrary guide-field [Phys. Plasmas 11, 4713 (2004)] Fitzpatrick, Richard; Porcelli, Franco Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2715576	journal	April 2007
$X$ -Point Collapse and Saturation in the Nonlinear Tearing Mode Reconnection Loureiro, N. F.; Cowley, S. C.; Dorland, W. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.235003	journal	November 2005
Sardinia Radio Telescope observations of Abell 194: The intra-cluster magnetic field power spectrum Govoni, F.; Murgia, M.; Vacca, V. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 603 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201630349	journal	July 2017
Tearing-mode stability properties of a diffuse anisotropic field-reversed ion layer at marginal stability Chen, James Physics of Fluids, Vol. 24, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.863336	journal	January 1981
Parasitic instabilities in magnetized, differentially rotating disks Goodman, Jeremy; Xu, Guohong The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 432 https://doi.org/10.1086/174562	journal	September 1994
Firehose and Mirror Instabilities in a Collisionless Shearing Plasma Kunz, Matthew W.; Schekochihin, Alexander A.; Stone, James M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.205003	journal	May 2014
Role of Magnetic Reconnection in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence Loureiro, Nuno F.; Boldyrev, Stanislav Physical Review Letters, Vol. 118, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.245101	journal	June 2017
Instability of a neutral sheet Dobrowolny, M. Il Nuovo Cimento B Series 10, Vol. 55, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02711653	journal	June 1968
Proton Temperature Anisotropy and Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Wind: Effects of Kinetic Instabilities on Current Sheet Stability Matteini, L.; Landi, S.; Velli, M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 763, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/763/2/142	journal	January 2013
Fully Kinetic Large-scale Simulations of the Collisionless Magnetorotational Instability Inchingolo, Giannandrea; Grismayer, Thomas; Loureiro, Nuno F. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 859, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aac0f2	journal	June 2018
Pressure-anisotropy-induced nonlinearities in the kinetic magnetorotational instability Squire, J.; Quataert, E.; Kunz, M. W. Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377817000940	journal	December 2017
The Coma cluster magnetic field from Faraday rotation measures Bonafede, A.; Feretti, L.; Murgia, M. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 513 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/200913696	journal	April 2010
Equations of State for Collisionless Guide-Field Reconnection Le, A.; Egedal, J.; Daughton, W. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.085001	journal	February 2009
Magnetic reconnection driven by velocity space instabilities Coppi, B. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 273 https://doi.org/10.1086/184138	journal	October 1983
Magnetic Reconnection in Astrophysical and Laboratory Plasmas Zweibel, Ellen G.; Yamada, Masaaki Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 47, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-082708-101726	journal	September 2009
Collisionless tearing instability in a non-Maxwellian neutral sheet: An integrodifferential formulation Chen, J.; Lee, Y. C. Physics of Fluids, Vol. 28, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.865395	journal	January 1985
An Unambiguous Detection of Faraday Rotation in Sagittarius A* Marrone, Daniel P.; Moran, James M.; Zhao, Jun-Hui The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 654, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/510850	journal	December 2006
Nonlinear Evolution of Collisionless and Semicollisional Tearing Modes Drake, J. F.; Lee, Y. C. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.39.453	journal	August 1977
Angular Momentum Transport and Particle Acceleration During Magnetorotational Instability in a Kinetic Accretion Disk Hoshino, Masahiro Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.061101	journal	February 2015
A review of pressure anisotropy caused by electron trapping in collisionless plasma, and its implications for magnetic reconnection Egedal, Jan; Le, Ari; Daughton, William Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4811092	journal	June 2013
Particle-In-Cell Simulations of Continuously Driven Mirror and ion Cyclotron Instabilities in high beta Astrophysical and Heliospheric Plasmas Riquelme, Mario A.; Quataert, Eliot; Verscharen, Daniel The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 800, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/800/1/27	journal	February 2015
Finite-Resistivity Instabilities of a Sheet Pinch Furth, Harold P.; Killeen, John; Rosenbluth, Marshall N. Physics of Fluids, Vol. 6, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1706761	journal	January 1963
Cluster Magnetic Fields Carilli, C. L.; Taylor, G. B. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 40, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.astro.40.060401.093852	journal	September 2002
Shearing Box Simulations of the MRI in a Collisionless Plasma Sharma, Prateek; Hammett, Gregory W.; Quataert, Eliot The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 637, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/498405	journal	February 2006
Disruption of Alfvénic turbulence by magnetic reconnection in a collisionless plasma Mallet, Alfred; Schekochihin, Alexander A.; Chandran, Benjamin D. G. Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377817000812	journal	November 2017
Particle Acceleration During Magnetorotational Instability in a Collisionless Accretion disk Hoshino, Masahiro The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 773, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/773/2/118	journal	August 2013
On the Saturation of the Magnetorotational Instability via Parasitic Modes Pessah, Martin E.; Goodman, Jeremy The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 698, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/698/1/L72	journal	May 2009
The Effects of Plasma beta and Anisotropy Instabilities on the Dynamics of Reconnecting Magnetic Fields in the Heliosheath Schoeffler, K. M.; Drake, J. F.; Swisdak, M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 743, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/743/1/70	journal	November 2011
Plasmoid Instability in Forming Current Sheets Comisso, L.; Lingam, M.; Huang, Y. -M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 850, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa9789	journal	November 2017
Collisionless Damping of Hydromagnetic Waves Barnes, Aaron Physics of Fluids, Vol. 9, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1761882	journal	January 1966
Magnetic turbulence in cool cores of galaxy clusters Vogt, C.; Enßlin, T. A. Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 327, Issue 5-6 https://doi.org/10.1002/asna.200610599	journal	June 2006
The effects of plasma beta and anisotropy instabilities on the dynamics of reconnecting magnetic fields in the heliosheath Schoeffler, K. M.; Drake, J. F.; Swisdak, M. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1107.5558	text	January 2011
The intracluster magnetic field power spectrum in A2199 Vacca, V.; Murgia, M.; Govoni, F. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1201.4119	text	January 2012
PIC Simulations of Continuously Driven Mirror and Ion Cyclotron Instabilities in High Beta Astrophysical and Heliospheric Plasmas Riquelme, Mario; Quataert, Eliot; Verscharen, Daniel arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1402.0014	text	January 2014
Linear Vlasov Theory in the Shearing Sheet Approximation with Application to the Magneto-Rotational Instability Heinemann, Tobias; Quataert, Eliot arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1405.7698	text	January 2014
The three-dimensional evolution of ion-scale current sheets: tearing and drift-kink instabilities in the presence of proton temperature anisotropy Gingell, Peter; Burgess, David; Matteini, Lorenzo arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1411.4422	text	January 2014
Fast Magnetic Reconnection Due to Anisotropic Electron Pressure Cassak, P. A.; Baylor, R. N.; Fermo, R. L. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1502.01781	text	January 2015
Angular Momentum Transport and Particle Acceleration during Magnetorotational Instability in a Kinetic Accretion Disk Hoshino, Masahiro arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1502.02452	text	January 2015
Magnetorotational Turbulence and Dynamo in a Collisionless Plasma Kunz, Matthew W.; Stone, James M.; Quataert, Eliot arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1608.07911	text	January 2016
Sardinia Radio Telescope observations of Abell 194 - the intra-cluster magnetic field power spectrum Govoni, F.; Murgia, M.; Vacca, V. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1703.08688	text	January 2017
Plasmoid Instability in Evolving Current Sheets and Onset of Fast Reconnection Huang, Yi-Min; Comisso, Luca; Bhattacharjee, A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1707.01863	text	January 2017
Collisionless Reconnection in Magnetohydrodynamic and Kinetic Turbulence Loureiro, N. F.; Boldyrev, S. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1707.05899	text	January 2017
Pressure-anisotropy-induced nonlinearities in the kinetic magnetorotational instability Squire, Jonathan; Quataert, Eliot; Kunz, Matthew W. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1709.05428	text	January 2017
Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flow Models of Sgr A* Quataert, Eliot arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0304099	text	January 2003
Magnetic turbulence in cool cores of galaxy clusters Ensslin, T. A.; Vogt, C. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0505517	text	January 2005
An Unambiguous Detection of Faraday Rotation in Sagittarius A* Marrone, D. P.; Moran, J. M.; Zhao, J. -H. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0611791	text	January 2006

Similar Records

Particle acceleration in relativistic magnetic flux-merging events

Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Plasma Physics · OSTI ID:1547059

Lyutikov, Maxim; Sironi, Lorenzo; Komissarov, Serguei S.; +1 more

Why fast magnetic reconnection is so prevalent

Journal Article · Wed Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Journal of Plasma Physics · OSTI ID:1547059

Boozer, Allen H.

Inclined porous medium convection at large Rayleigh number

Journal Article · Fri Jan 05 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Journal of Fluid Mechanics · OSTI ID:1547059

Wen, Baole; Chini, Gregory P.

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
astrophysical plasmas
plasma instabilities
plasma nonlinear phenomena

Title: Onset of magnetic reconnection in a collisionless, high-β plasma

Citation Formats

References (82)

Similar Records

Related Subjects