3D Numerical Simulation of Kink-driven Rayleigh–Taylor Instability Leading to Fast Magnetic Reconnection
Abstract
Fast magnetic reconnection involving non-MHD microscale physics is believed to underlie both solar eruptions and laboratory plasma current disruptions. While there is extensive research on both the MHD macroscale physics and the non-MHD microscale physics, the process by which large-scale MHD couples to the microscale physics is not well understood. An MHD instability cascade from a kink to a secondary Rayleigh–Taylor instability in the Caltech astrophysical jet laboratory experiment provides new insights into this coupling and motivates a 3D numerical simulation of this transition from large to small scale. A critical finding from the simulation is that the axial magnetic field inside the current-carrying dense plasma must exceed the field outside. In addition, the simulation verifies a theoretical prediction and experimental observation that, depending on the strength of the effective gravity produced by the primary kink instability, the secondary instability can be Rayleigh–Taylor or mini-kink. Finally, it is shown that the kink-driven Rayleigh–Taylor instability generates a localized electric field sufficiently strong to accelerate electrons to very high energy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.3847/2041-8213/ab8e35
Entities
People
- Hui Li
- Pakorn Wongwaitayakornkul
- Paul M. Bellan
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research