Linear plasmoid instability of thin current sheets with shear flow

Academic Article

Abstract

  • This paper presents linear analytical and numerical studies of plasmoid instabilities in the presence of shear flow in high-Lundquist-number plasmas. Analysis demonstrates that the stability problem becomes essentially two dimensional as the stabilizing effects of shear flow become more prominent. Scaling results are presented for the two-dimensional instabilities. An approximate criterion is given for the critical aspect ratio of thin current sheets at which the plasmoid instability is triggered.
  • Authors

  • Ni, Lei
  • Germaschewski, Kai
  • Huang, Yi-Min
  • Sullivan, Brian P
  • Yang, Hongang
  • Bhattacharjee, Amitava
  • Status

    Publication Date

  • May 2010
  • Has Subject Area

    Published In

  • Physics of Plasmas  Journal
  • Keywords

  • plasma flow
  • plasma instability
  • shear flow
  • Digital Object Identifier (doi)

    Start Page

  • 052109
  • Volume

  • 17
  • Issue

  • 5