Related papers: Nonlinear mirror instability
Hybrid-kinetic numerical simulations of firehose and mirror instabilities in a collisionless plasma are performed in which pressure anisotropy is driven as the magnetic field is changed by a persistent linear shear $S$. For a decreasing…
An asymptotic model based on a reductive perturbative expansion of the drift kinetic and the Maxwell equations is used to demonstrate that, near the instability threshold, the nonlinear dynamics of mirror modes in a magnetized plasma with…
In turbulent high-beta astrophysical plasmas (exemplified by the galaxy cluster plasmas), pressure-anisotropy-driven firehose and mirror fluctuations grow nonlinearly to large amplitudes, dB/B ~ 1, on a timescale comparable to the turnover…
In the first part we present a review of our results concerning the weakly nonlinear regime of the mirror instability in the framework of an asymptotic model. This model belongs to the class of gradient type systems for which the free…
Weakly collisional plasmas dynamically develop pressure anisotropies with respect to the magnetic field. These anisotropies trigger plasma instabilities at scales just above the ion Larmor radius \rho_i and much below the mean free path…
With the support of hybrid-kinetic simulations and analytic theory, we describe the nonlinear behaviour of long-wavelength non-propagating (NP) modes and fast magnetosonic waves in high-$\beta$ collisionless plasmas, with particular…
The relationship between a decaying strong turbulence and the mirror instability in a slowly expanding plasma is investigated using two-dimensional hybrid expanding box simulations. We impose an initial ambient magnetic field perpendicular…
The nonlinear state of a high-beta collisionless plasma is investigated when an imposed linear shear amplifies or diminishes a uniform magnetic field, driving pressure anisotropies and hence firehose/mirror instabilities. The evolution of…
In this work linear stability analysis of a magnetized dusty plasma with an anisotropic dust component having transversal motions much stronger than motions parallel to the external magnetic field, and isotropic light plasma components is…
In this work we report a numerical study of the cosmic magnetic field amplification due to collisionless plasma instabilities. The collisionless magnetohydrodynamic equations derived account for the pressure anisotropy that leads, in…
In weakly collisional extragalactic plasmas such as the intracluster medium, viscous stress and the rate of change of the magnetic-field strength are proportional to the local pressure anisotropy, so subject to constraints imposed by the…
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 thus leads to an increase in the thermal pressure perpendicular…
The linear threshold condition of the mirror mode including weak drift and finite Larmor radius effects is analysed and shown that it can be given to arbitrary precision in closed analytical form. Combined with observations of mirror modes…
We investigate the linear tearing instability in weakly collisional plasmas using a non-ideal gyrotropic-MHD framework, uncovering a previously unknown scaling relation for the instability growth rate in high-$\beta$ environments. Even…
The mirror mode evolving in collisionless magnetised high-temperature thermally anisotropic plasmas is shown to develop an interesting macro-state. Starting as a classical zero frequency ion fluid instability it saturates quasi-linearly at…
In collisionless and weakly collisional plasmas, such as hot accretion flows onto compact objects, the magnetorotational instability (MRI) can differ significantly from the standard (collisional) MRI. In particular, pressure anisotropy with…
Large-amplitude turbulence -- characterized by a fluctuating magnetic field component, $\delta B$, that is stronger than the mean component, $B_0$ -- is generically intermittent, populated with intense localized structures such as sharp…
Based on Grad-Shafranov-like equations, a gyrotropic plasma where the pressures in the static regime are only functions of the amplitude of the local magnetic field is shown to be amenable to a variational principle with a free energy…
Cluster plasmas are magnetised already at very low magnetic field strength. Low collisionality implies that conservation of the first adiabatic invariant results in an anisotropic viscous stress (Braginskii viscosity) or, equivalently,…
The nonlinear evolution of the Kelvin Helmholtz instability in a magnetized plasma with a perpendicular flow close to, or in, the supermagnetosonic regime can produce a significant parallel-to-perpendicular pressure anisotropy. This…