Thin current sheets in systems of large size that exceed a critical value of the Lundquist number are unstable to a super-Alfvénic tearing instability, referred to hereafter as the plasmoid instability. The scaling of the growth rate of the most rapidly growing plasmoid instability with respect to the Lundquist number is shown to follow from the classical dispersion relation for tearing modes. As a result of this instability, the system realizes a nonlinear reconnection rate that appears to be weakly dependent on the Lundquist number, and larger than the Sweet–Parker rate by nearly an order of magnitude (for the range of Lundquist numbers considered). This regime of fast reconnection is realizable in a dynamic and highly unstable thin current sheet, without requiring the current sheet to be turbulent.
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November 2009
Research Article|
November 11 2009
Fast reconnection in high-Lundquist-number plasmas due to the plasmoid Instability
A. Bhattacharjee;
A. Bhattacharjee
1Center for Integrated Computation and Analysis of Reconnection and Turbulence,
University of New Hampshire
, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA
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Yi-Min Huang;
Yi-Min Huang
1Center for Integrated Computation and Analysis of Reconnection and Turbulence,
University of New Hampshire
, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA
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H. Yang;
H. Yang
2Center for Integrated Computation and Analysis of Reconnection and Turbulence,
Dartmouth College
, Hanover, New Hampshire 03825, USA
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B. Rogers
B. Rogers
2Center for Integrated Computation and Analysis of Reconnection and Turbulence,
Dartmouth College
, Hanover, New Hampshire 03825, USA
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Phys. Plasmas 16, 112102 (2009)
Article history
Received:
July 01 2009
Accepted:
October 26 2009
Citation
A. Bhattacharjee, Yi-Min Huang, H. Yang, B. Rogers; Fast reconnection in high-Lundquist-number plasmas due to the plasmoid Instability. Phys. Plasmas 1 November 2009; 16 (11): 112102. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3264103
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