ISSN:
1089-7666
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Whether it is induced by an ideal (current driven) instability or by an external force, plasma flow causes a change in the magnetic field configuration and often gives rise to a current intensification locally, thereby a fast driven reconnection being driven there. Many dramatic phenomena in magnetically confined plasmas such as magnetospheric substorms, solar flares, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) self-organization, and tokamak sawtooth crash, may be attributed to this fast driven reconnection. Using a fourth-order MHD simulation code it is confirmed that compressibility of the plasma plays a crucial role in leading to a fast (MHD time scale) driven reconnection. This indicates that the incompressible representation is not always applicable to the study of a global dynamical behavior of a magnetically confined plasma.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.860295
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