Collisionless tearing instability in relativistic non-thermal pair plasma and its application to MHD turbulence

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Demidov, Ivan, Lyubarsky, Yuri
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Demidov, Ivan
Lyubarsky, Yuri
author_facet Demidov, Ivan
Lyubarsky, Yuri
contents Collisionless tearing instability with a power-law distribution function in a relativistic pair plasma with a guide field is studied. When the current sheet is supported by plasma pressure, the tearing mode is suppressed as the particle spectrum hardens. In the force-free limit, the instability growth rate becomes independent of the particle spectrum. We apply these results to relativistic MHD turbulence, where magnetic energy greatly exceeds plasma rest energy, and derive an expression for the transverse size of turbulent eddies unstable to tearing mode. We also establish the critical plasma magnetization parameter above which charge starvation prevents the tearing instability. These results might be useful for developing more accurate models of particle acceleration in relativistic astrophysical sources.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_16167
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Collisionless tearing instability in relativistic non-thermal pair plasma and its application to MHD turbulence
Demidov, Ivan
Lyubarsky, Yuri
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Plasma Physics
Collisionless tearing instability with a power-law distribution function in a relativistic pair plasma with a guide field is studied. When the current sheet is supported by plasma pressure, the tearing mode is suppressed as the particle spectrum hardens. In the force-free limit, the instability growth rate becomes independent of the particle spectrum. We apply these results to relativistic MHD turbulence, where magnetic energy greatly exceeds plasma rest energy, and derive an expression for the transverse size of turbulent eddies unstable to tearing mode. We also establish the critical plasma magnetization parameter above which charge starvation prevents the tearing instability. These results might be useful for developing more accurate models of particle acceleration in relativistic astrophysical sources.
title Collisionless tearing instability in relativistic non-thermal pair plasma and its application to MHD turbulence
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.16167