Nonlinear evolution of the lower hybrid drift instability: Current sheet thinning and kinking

Through numerical plasma simulations using the implicit code CELESTE3D [G. Lapenta and J. U. Brackbill, Nonlinear Processes Geophys. 7, 151 (2000)], the development of kink modes in a Harris current sheet is investigated, and their possible nonlinear interaction with the lower hybrid drift instability (LHDI) is considered. Consistent with earlier work, the rapid development of a short wavelength LHDI is observed, followed by the slow development of long wavelength current sheet kinking. The growth of kink modes is in agreement with the linear theory for the drift kink instability only at very small mass ratios (mi/me=16). At more realistic mass ratios, the growth rate exceeds that predicted by linear theory. A thorough investigation of the dependence of current sheet kinking on ion/electron mass and temperature ratios, and current sheet thickness reveals that the growth of kink modes is unaffected by current sheet thinning, but is strongly dependent on the ion/electron temperature ratio. The saturation am...

[1]  A. Miura.  Nonideal magnetohydrodynamic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability driven by the shear in the ion diamagnetic drift velocity in a high-β plasma , 2001 .

[2]  M. Fujimoto,et al.  Rapid large-scale magnetic-field dissipation in a collisionless current sheet via coupling between Kelvin-Helmholtz and lower-hybrid drift instabilities. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[3]  J. Brackbill,et al.  Transient magnetic reconnection and unstable shear layers. , 2000, Physical review letters.

[4]  H. Bruzzone,et al.  The need of using anomalous resistivity due to Lower Hybrid Instabilities in plasma-magnetic field interfaces , 2001 .

[5]  Giovanni Lapenta,et al.  3D reconnection due to oblique modes: a simulation of Harris current sheets , 2000 .

[6]  Ritoku Horiuchi,et al.  Three-dimensional particle simulation of plasma instabilities and collisionless reconnection in a current sheet , 1999 .

[7]  M. Hesse,et al.  Hall-MHD modeling of near-Earth magnetotail current sheet thinning and evolution , 1999 .

[8]  Jörg Büchner,et al.  Sausage mode instability of thin current sheets as a cause of magnetospheric substorms , 1999 .

[9]  W. Daughton.  The unstable eigenmodes of a neutral sheet , 1999 .

[10]  A. Lui,et al.  Two‐fluid theory of drift‐kink instability in a one‐dimensional neutral sheet , 1998 .

[11]  Giovanni Lapenta,et al.  A kinetic theory for the drift-kink instability , 1997 .

[12]  Lou‐Chuang Lee,et al.  Tearing instability, Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability, and magnetic reconnection , 1997 .

[13]  Dieter Biskamp,et al.  Magnetic reconnection in plasmas , 2000 .

[14]  P. Pritchett,et al.  Three‐dimensional stability of thin quasi‐neutral current sheets , 1996 .

[15]  J. Drake,et al.  Theory and simulation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the geomagnetic tail , 1996 .

[16]  Ritoku Horiuchi,et al.  Electromagnetic instability and anomalous resistivity in a magnetic neutral sheet , 1996 .

[17]  Robert M. Winglee,et al.  Tearing instability, flux ropes, and the kinetic current sheet kink instability in the Earth`s magnetotail: A three-dimensional perspective from particle simulations , 1996 .

[18]  D. Winske,et al.  Kinetic simulations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the magnetopause , 1993 .

[19]  J. U. Brackbill,et al.  CELEST1D: an implicit, fully kinetic model for low-frequency, electromagnetic plasma simulation , 1992 .

[20]  M. Hoshino.  Forced magnetic reconnection in a plasma sheet with localized resistivity profile excited by lower hybrid drift type instability , 1991 .

[21]  V. V. Belyi,et al.  Anomalous Electrical Conductivity of Weakly‐Collisional, Magnetoactive Plasma Excited by the Lower‐Hybrid‐Drift Instability , 1989 .

[22]  C. Wu,et al.  Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability at the magnetopause boundary , 1986 .

[23]  Jeremiah Brackbill,et al.  Simulation of Low-Frequency, Electromagnetic Phenomena in Plasmas , 1985 .

[24]  J. Brackbill,et al.  Multiple time scales , 1985 .

[25]  J. Brackbill,et al.  Nonlinear evolution of the lower‐hybrid drift instability , 1984 .

[26]  A. Miura.  Anomalous transport by magnetohydrodynamic Kelvin‐Helmholtz instabilities in the solar wind‐magnetosphere interaction , 1984 .

[27]  P. Pritchett,et al.  The collisionless macroscopic Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability: 1. Transverse electrostatic mode , 1984 .

[28]  J. Huba,et al.  Saturation of the lower-hybrid-drift instability by mode coupling. Memorandum report , 1983 .

[29]  A. Miura,et al.  Nonlocal stability analysis of the MHD Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a compressible plasma. [solar wind-magnetosphere interaction] , 1982 .

[30]  A. Nishida.  Magnetospheric plasma physics. , 1982 .

[31]  A. Galeev.  Magnetospheric Tail Dynamics , 1982 .

[32]  M. Kivelson,et al.  Lower-hybrid-drift instability and its associated anomalous resistivity in the neutral sheet of earth's magnetotail , 1981 .

[33]  N. T. Gladd,et al.  On the role of the lower hybrid drift instability in substorm dynamics , 1981 .

[34]  T. T. Lee,et al.  Irreversibility and transport in the lower hybrid drift instability , 1980 .

[35]  R. Davidson.  Quasi‐linear stabilization of lower‐hybrid‐drift instability , 1978 .

[36]  P. Liewer,et al.  Particle simulation studies of the lower hybrid drift instability , 1978 .

[37]  K. Papadopoulos,et al.  Nonlinear stabilization of the lower‐hybrid‐drift instability by electron resonance broadening , 1978 .

[38]  N. A. Krall,et al.  Anomalous transport in high-temperature plasmas with applications to solenoidal fusion systems , 1977 .

[39]  N. T. Gladd,et al.  The lower-hybrid-drift instability as a source of anomalous resistivity for magnetic field line reconnection , 1977 .

[40]  N. A. Krall.  Shear stabilization of lower hybrid drift instabilities , 1977 .

[41]  N. T. Gladd,et al.  Effects of Finite Plasma Beta on the Lower-Hybrid-Drift Instability, , 1977 .

[42]  D. Batchelor,et al.  Nonlocal analysis of the lower‐hybrid‐drift instability in theta‐pinch plasmas , 1976 .

[43]  N. T. Gladd,et al.  Anomalous transport properties associated with the lower‐hybrid‐drift instability , 1975 .

[44]  S. Chandrasekhar.  Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability , 1961 .