The effects of line-tying on resistive tearing instability in slab geometry is studied within the framework of reduced magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD).citep{KadomtsevP1974,Strauss1976} It is found that line-tying has a stabilizing effect. The tearing mode is stabilized when the system length $L$ is shorter than a critical length $L_{c}$, which is independent of the resistivity $eta$. When $L$ is not too much longer than $L_{c}$, the growthrate $gamma$ is proportional to $eta$ . When $L$ is sufficiently long, the tearing mode scaling $gammasimeta^{3/5}$ is recovered. The transition from $gammasimeta$ to $gammasimeta^{3/5}$ occurs at a transition length $L_{t}simeta^{-2/5}$.
(abridged) Magnetic reconnection is the topological reconfiguration of the magnetic field in a plasma, accompanied by the violent release of energy and particle acceleration. Reconnection is as ubiquitous as plasmas themselves, with solar flares perhaps the most popular example. Over the last few years, the theoretical understanding of magnetic reconnection in large-scale fluid systems has undergone a major paradigm shift. The steady-state model of reconnection described by the famous Sweet-Parker (SP) theory, which dominated the field for ~50 years, has been replaced with an essentially time-dependent, bursty picture of the reconnection layer, dominated by the continuous formation and ejection of multiple secondary islands (plasmoids). Whereas in the SP model reconnection was predicted to be slow, a major implication of this new paradigm is that reconnection in fluid systems is fast (i.e., independent of the Lundquist number), provided that the system is large enough. This conceptual shift hinges on the realization that SP-like current layers are violently unstable to the plasmoid instability - implying, therefore, that such current sheets are super-critically unstable and thus can never form in the first place. This suggests that the formation of a current sheet and the subsequent reconnection process cannot be decoupled, as is commonly assumed. This paper provides an introductory-level overview of the recent developments in reconnection theory and simulations that led to this essentially new framework. We briefly discuss the role played by the plasmoid instability in selected applications, and describe some of the outstanding challenges that remain at the frontier of this subject. Amongst these are the analytical and numerical extension of the plasmoid instability to (i) 3D and (ii) non-MHD regimes. New results are reported in both cases.
We consider nonlinear interaction of superpower laser pulses of relativistic intensities with nanolayers and solid-plasma-targets towards the production of high energy-density electron bunches along with nuclear radiation (hard $% gamma $-quanta and positron fluxes). It is shown that petawatt lasers are capable of producing via two-target scheme high density field free electron/positron bunches and substantial amounts of $gamma $-quanta with energies up to $200$ MeV. For actual supershort and tightly focused--strongly nonplane ultrarelativistic laser pulses of linear and circular polarizations 3D3V problem is solved via numerical simulations.
Bandyopadhyay and Das [Phys. Plasmas, 9, 465-473, 2002] have derived a nonlinear macroscopic evolution equation for ion acoustic wave in a magnetized plasma consisting of warm adiabatic ions and non-thermal electrons including the effect of Landau damping. In that paper they have also derived the corresponding nonlinear evolution equation when coefficient of the nonlinear term of the above mentioned macroscopic evolution equation vanishes, the nonlinear behaviour of the ion acoustic wave is described by a modified macroscopic evolution equation. But they have not considered the case when the coefficient is very near to zero. This is the case we consider in this paper and we derive the corresponding evolution equation including the effect of Landau damping. Finally, a solitary wave solution of this macroscopic evolution is obtained, whose amplitude is found to decay slowly with time.
The Synthetic Aperture Microwave Imaging (SAMI) diagnostic has conducted proof-of-principle 2D Doppler backscattering (DBS) experiments on MAST. SAMI actively probes the plasma edge using a wide (+-40 degrees vertical and horizontal) and tuneable (10-35.5 GHz) beam. The Doppler backscattered signal is digitised in vector form using an array of eight Vivaldi PCB antennas. This allows the receiving array to be focused in any direction within the field of view simultaneously to an angular range of 6-24 degrees FWHM at 10-34.5 GHz. This capability is unique to SAMI and is an entirely novel way of conducting DBS experiments. In this paper the feasibility of conducting 2D DBS experiments is explored. Initial measurements of phenomena observed on conventional DBS experiments are presented; such as momentum injection from neutral beams and an abrupt change in power and turbulence velocity coinciding with the onset of H-mode. In addition, being able to carry out 2D DBS imaging allows a measurement of magnetic pitch angle to be made; preliminary results are presented. Capabilities gained through steering a beam using a phased array and the limitations of this technique are discussed.
The kinetic origin of resonance phenomena in capacitively coupled radio frequency plasmas is discovered based on particle-based numerical simulations. The analysis of the spatio-temporal distributions of plasma parameters such as the densities of hot and cold electrons, as well as the conduction and displacement currents reveals the mechanism of the formation of multiple electron beams during sheath expansion. The interplay between highly energetic beam electrons and low energetic bulk electrons is identified as the physical origin of the excitation of harmonics in the current.
The motivation for this study is to include the effect of plasma flow in Alfven wave (AW) damping via phase mixing and to explore the observational implications. Our magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations and analytical calculations show that, when a background flow is present, mathematical expressions for the AW damping via phase mixing are modified by the following substitution: $C_A^prime(x) to C_A^prime(x)+V_0^prime(x)$, where $C_A$ and $V_0$ are AW phase and the flow speeds, and the prime denotes a derivative in the direction across the background magnetic field. In uniform magnetic fields and over-dense plasma structures, where $C_A$ is smaller than in the surrounding plasma, the flow, which is confined to the structure and going in the same direction as the AW, reduces the effect of phase-mixing, because on the edges of the structure $C_A^prime$ and $V_0^prime$ have opposite signs. Thus, the wave damps by means of slower phase-mixing compared to the case without the flow. This is the result of the co-directional flow that reduces the wave front stretching in the transverse direction. We apply our findings to addressing the question why over-dense solar coronal open magnetic field structures (OMFS) are cooler than the background plasma. Observations show that the over-dense OMFS (e.g. solar coronal polar plumes) are cooler than surrounding plasma and that, in these structures, Doppler line-broadening is consistent with bulk plasma motions, such as AW. If over-dense solar coronal OMFS are heated by AW damping via phase-mixing, we show that, co-directional with AW, plasma flow in them reduces the phase-mixing induced-heating, thus providing an explanation of why they appear cooler than the background.
A Lie-Poisson bracket is presented for a five-field gyrofluid model, thereby showing the model to be Hamiltonian. The model includes the effects of magnetic field curvature and describes the evolution of the electron and ion gyro-center densities, the parallel component of the ion and electron velocities, and the ion temperature. The quasineutrality property and Amperes law determine respectively the electrostatic potential and magnetic flux. The Casimir invariants are presented, and shown to be associated to five Lagrangian invariants advected by distinct velocity fields. A linear, local study of the model is conducted both with and without Landau and diamagnetic resonant damping terms. Stability criteria and dispersion relations for the electrostatic and the electromagnetic cases are derived and compared with their analogs for fluid and kinetic models.
We propose a spectral Particle-In-Cell (PIC) algorithm that is based on the combination of a Hankel transform and a Fourier transform. For physical problems that have close-to-cylindrical symmetry, this algorithm can be much faster than full 3D PIC algorithms. In addition, unlike standard finite-difference PIC codes, the proposed algorithm is free of numerical dispersion. This algorithm is benchmarked in several situations that are of interest for laser-plasma interactions. These benchmarks show that it avoids a number of numerical artifacts, that would otherwise affect the physics in a standard PIC algorithm - including the zero-order numerical Cherenkov effect.
We report on the experimental observation of beam-like neutron emission with peak flux of the order of 10^9 n/sr, from light nuclei reactions in a pitcher-catcher scenario, by employing MeV ions driven by high power laser. The spatial profile of the neutron beam, fully captured for the first time by employing a CR39 nuclear track detector, shows a FWHM divergence angle of 70 degrees, with a peak flux nearly an order of magnitude higher than the isotropic component elsewhere. The observed beamed flux of neutrons is highly favourable for a wide range of applications, and indeed for further transport and moderation to thermal energies. A systematic study employing various combinations of pitcher-catcher materials indicates the dominant reactions being d(p, n+p)^1H and d(d,n)^3He. Albeit insufficient cross-section data are available for modelling, the observed anisotropy in the neutrons spatial and spectral profiles are most likely related to the directionality and high energy of the projectile ions.
