Electronic Resource
[S.l.]
:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Physics of Plasmas
5 (1998), S. 2485-2488
ISSN:
1089-7674
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
The stability characteristics of a plasma jet V(x)=sech2 x embedded in a parallel magnetic field B(x)=B0 tanh x are investigated. The Kelvin–Helmholtz kink mode, which dominates at small B0, is stabilized at B0=0.46, while the pinch mode remains unstable up to B0=0.96. Contrary to a nonmagnetized jet, for finite B0 the kink mode saturates quasilinearly by broadening the jet, such that B0/Vmax becomes larger than the marginal value 0.46. Including finite resistivity the nonlinear behavior is eventually governed by the tearing mode for all values of B0≠0, consisting of a single plasmoid moving along the jet. Hence the shear flow cannot stabilize the tearing mode, so that the apparent tearing stability of resistive current sheets observed in numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection is only due to finite-length effects. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.872931
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