Stratified Resistive Tearing Instability
Fluid Dynamics
2024-11-20 v1 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Mathematical Physics
math.MP
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
Abstract
Resistive tearing instabilities are common in fluids that are highly electrically conductive and carry strong currents. We determine the effect of stable stratification on the tearing instability under the Boussinesq approximation. Our results generalise previous work that considered only specific parameter regimes, and we show that the length scale of the fastest growing mode depends non-monotonically on the stratification strength. We confirm our analytical results by solving the linearised equations numerically, and we discuss whether the instability could operate in the solar tachocline.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2408.13210,
title = {Stratified Resistive Tearing Instability},
author = {Scott J. Hopper and Toby S. Wood and Paul J. Bushby},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2408.13210},
year = {2024}
}