Tearing Instability in Alfvén and Kinetic‐Alfvén Turbulence
Name
Boldyrev and Loureiro - 2020 - Tearing Instability in Alfvén and Kinetic-Alfvén T.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
786.33 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
02c12ebd9891ead81746f0b007feaa6e
Author(s)
Boldyrev, Stanislav
Gomes Loureiro, Nuno F
Date Issued
September 2020
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Boldyrev, Stanislav and Nuno F. Loureiro. "Tearing instability in Alfvén and kinetic-Alfvén turbulence. " Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 125, 9 (September 2020): e2020JA028185. ©2020 American Geophysical Union
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Recently, it has been realized that magnetic plasma turbulence and magnetic field reconnection are inherently related phenomena. Turbulent fluctuations generate regions of sheared magnetic field that become unstable to the tearing instability and reconnection, thus modifying turbulence at the corresponding scales. In this contribution, we give a brief review of some recent results on tearing-mediated magnetic turbulence. We illustrate the main ideas of this rapidly developing field of study by concentrating on two important examples—magnetohydrodynamic Alfvén turbulence and small-scale kinetic-Alfvén turbulence. Due to various potential applications of these phenomena in space physics and astrophysics, we specifically try not to overload the text by heavy analytical derivations but rather present a qualitative discussion accessible to a non-expert in the theories of turbulence and reconnection.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020ja028185
