Collisionless Tearing Instability of a Bi-Maxwellian Neutral Sheet with Exact Particle Orbits

Abstract

The tearing instability of a neutral sheet may be important to reconnection in the magnetosphere and elsewhere. The use of a bi-Maxwellian Harris equilibrium is broadly applicable to the physical environment and allows a continuous variation from isotropic situations. The integro-differential equation describing the linear tearing instability in the bi-Maxwellian neutral sheet is solved without approximating the particle orbits. Results of this calculation are presented. Comparison between the exact solution and the 3- region approximation motivates the piecewise-straight-line approximation, a simplification which allows faster solution of the integro-differential equation, yet retains the important features of the exact solution. Keywords: Collisionless tearing mode; Anisotropic temperature; Reconnection; Integrodifferential equation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 27, 1989
Accession Number
ADA207310

Entities

People

  • G. R. Burkhart
  • Zhijian Chen

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Anisotropy
  • Classification
  • Differential Equations
  • Dispersion Relations
  • Distribution Functions
  • Eigenvalues
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Frequency
  • Instability
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Military Research
  • Particles
  • Physics
  • Planetary Sciences
  • Space Sciences

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Educational Psychology
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster