The Weibel Instability inside the Electron-Positron Harris Sheet
arXiv:0901.4770 · doi:10.1063/1.3097474
Abstract
Recent full-particle simulations of electron-positron reconnection have revealed that the Weibel instability plays an active role in controlling the dynamics of the current layer and maintaining fast reconnection. A four-beam model is developed to explore the development of the instability within a narrow current layer characteristic of reconnection. The problem is reduced to two coupled second-order differential equations, whose growing eigenmodes are obtained via both asymptotic approximations and finite difference methods. Full particle simulations confirm the linear theory and help probe the nonlinear development of the instability. The current layer broadening in the reconnection outflow jet is linked to the scattering of high-velocity streaming particles in the Weibel-generated, out-of-plane magnetic field.
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Cited by in corpus (5)
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- Instabilities of collisionless current sheets revisited: the role of anisotropic heating
- Turbulent transport in 2D collisionless guide field reconnection
- On Particle Transport and Radiation Production in Sub-Larmor-Scale Electromagnetic Turbulence
- Transport of and Radiation Production by Trans-relativistic/Non-relativistic Particles Moving Through Sub-Larmor-Scale Electromagnetic Turbulence