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Plasma instabilities and anomalous resistivity in the current sheet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2006

T. MORITAKA ,
R. HORIUCHI ,
H. OHTANI  and
A. ISHIZAWA
T. MORITAKA
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan
R. HORIUCHI
Affiliation:
National Institute for Fusion Science, Oroshi-cho 322-6, Toki 509-5292, Japan
H. OHTANI
Affiliation:
National Institute for Fusion Science, Oroshi-cho 322-6, Toki 509-5292, Japan
A. ISHIZAWA
Affiliation:
National Institute for Fusion Science, Oroshi-cho 322-6, Toki 509-5292, Japan
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Abstract

The role of microscopic plasma instabilities in the current sheet in the violation of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) condition is investigated by means of a $2\frac{1}{2}$-dimensional explicit particle simulation code. Two instabilities, lower hybrid drift instabilities (LHDIs) and drift kink instabilities (DKIs) are found to evolve in the current sheet. In the LHDI growing phase, nonlinear coupling of the fluctuations of the electric field and particle density generates the outward flow and deforms the current sheet profile. The DC electric field leading to the magnetic flux reduction and the damping of equilibrium current are observed in the DKI growing phase. The force balance between the averaged electric force term and the additional wavy component associated with the fluctuations of magnetic field and current density holds at the neutral sheet. This suggests that the DKI can contribute to creating anomalous resistivity and triggering the collisionless magnetic reconnection.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 72 , Issue 6 , December 2006 , pp. 961 - 964
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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