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Related papers: Plasmoid Instability in Forming Current Sheets

200 papers

We use 2.5D Magnetohydrodynamic simulations to investigate the spectral signatures of the nonlinear disruption of a tearing unstable current sheet via the generation of multiple secondary current sheets and magnetic islands. During the…

Space Physics · Physics 2019-11-27 Anna Tenerani , Marco Velli

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…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-10-09 Gabriel L. Ferreira-Santos , Grzegorz Kowal , Diego A. Falceta-Gonçalves

A set of reduced Hall magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations are used to evaluate the stability of large aspect ratio current sheets to the formation of plasmoids (secondary islands). Reconnection is driven by resistivity in this analysis,…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2015-05-30 S. D. Baalrud , A. Bhattacharjee , Y. -M. Huang , K. Germaschewski

Astrophysical plasmas have the remarkable ability to preserve magnetic topology, which inevitably gives rise to the accumulation of magnetic energy within stressed regions including current sheets. This stored energy is often released…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2022-02-21 Hantao Ji , William Daughton , Jonathan Jara-Almonte , Ari Le , Adam Stanier , Jongsoo Yoo

It is well known that the nonlinear evolution of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence generates current sheets. In the solar wind turbulence, current sheets are frequently observed and they are believed to be an important pathway for the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2026-03-19 Chen Shi , Marco Velli , Nikos Sioulas , Zijin Zhang

Strong gradients in plasma flows play a major role in space and astrophysical plasmas. A typical situation is that a static plasma equilibrium is surrounded by a plasma flow, which can lead to strong plasma flow gradients at the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2010-08-18 Dieter H. Nickeler , Thomas Wiegelmann

Formation of an elongated Sweet-Parker current sheet and a transition to plasmoid instability has for the first time been predicted by simulations in a large-scale toroidal fusion plasma in the absence of any pre-existing instability.…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2022-03-31 F. Ebrahimi , R. Raman

The decay of magnetically dominated turbulence exhibits robust inverse transfer of magnetic energy even in the absence of net magnetic helicity, challenging traditional cascade-based phenomenology. While recent studies suggest that magnetic…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-01-27 Chandranathan Anandavijayan , Pallavi Bhat

We investigate the dependence of the plasmoid-mediated magnetic reconnection rate on the magnetic Prandtl number using two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of two coalescing magnetic islands. For Lundquist numbers below the onset…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2026-05-20 Vinay Kumar , Axel Brandenburg

Using the FLASH code, which solves the full set of the two-dimensional (2-D) non-ideal (resistive) time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, we study processes during the magnetic reconnection in a vertical gravitationally…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2017-10-04 P. Jelínek , M. Karlický , T. Van Doorsselaere , M. Bárta

Plasmoid-driven magnetic reconnection in elongated current sheets is suspected to be an ubiquitous phenomenon in space and astrophysical plasmas, but the mechanisms driving its onset and dynamics are still debated. Deciphering the physical…

We present a detailed analysis of the properties of magnetic reconnection at large-scale current sheets in a high cadence version of the Lynch & Edmondson (2013) 2.5D MHD simulation of sympathetic magnetic breakout eruptions from a…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2016-07-19 B. J. Lynch , J. K. Edmondson , M. D. Kazachenko , S. E. Guidoni

We describe magnetic reconnection experiments using a new, pulsed-power driven experimental platform in which the inflows are super-sonic but sub-Alfv\'enic.The intrinsically magnetised plasma flows are long lasting, producing a…

Results from 2.5D and 3D studies of the onset and development of the tearing instability are presented, using high fidelity resistive MHD simulations. A limited parameter study of the strength of the reconnecting field (or shear angle) was…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2022-03-30 Lars K. S. Daldorff , James E. Leake , James A. Klimchuk

Reconnection physics at micro-scales is investigated in an electron magnetohydrodynamics frame. A new process of collapse of the neutral current sheet is demonstrated by means of analytical and numerical solutions. It shows how at scales…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2017-12-01 I F Shaikhislamov

Classical Sweet-Parker models of reconnection predict that reconnection rates depend inversely on the resistivity, usually parameterized using the dimensionless Lundquist number ($\Lund$). We describe magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-11 Jeffrey S. Oishi , Mordecai-Mark Mac Low , David C. Collins , Moeko Tamura

We investigate properties of the reconnecting current layer in relativistic pair plasma reconnection. We found that the current layer self-regulates its thickness when the current layer runs out current carriers, and so relativistic…

Astrophysics · Physics 2008-11-02 S. Zenitani , M. Hesse

Relativistic Sweet-Parker type magnetic reconnection is investigated by relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamic (RRMHD) simulations. As an initial setting, we assume anti-parallel magnetic fields and a spatially uniform resistivity. A…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-05-30 Hiroyuki R. Takahashi , Takahiro Kudoh , Youhei Masada , Jin Matsumoto

Magnetic reconnection, a plasma process converting magnetic energy to particle kinetic energy, is often invoked to explain magnetic energy releases powering high-energy flares in astrophysical sources including pulsar wind nebulae and black…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-12-17 Gregory R. Werner , Dmitri A. Uzdensky

Energy conversion via reconnecting current sheets is common in space and astrophysical plasmas. Frequently, current sheets disrupt at multiple reconnection sites, leading to the formation of plasmoid structures between sites, which might…