Spontaneous decay of periodic magnetostatic equilibria

Abstract

In order to understand the conditions which lead a highly magnetized, relativistic plasma to become unstable, and in such cases how the plasma evolves, we study a prototypical class of magnetostatic equilibria where the magnetic field satisfies $\nabla \times \mathbf{B}=\alpha \mathbf{B}$, where $\alpha$ is spatially uniform, on a periodic domain. Using numerical solutions we show that generic examples of such equilibria are unstable to ideal modes (including incompressible ones) which are marked by exponential growth in the linear phase. We characterize the unstable mode, showing how it can be understood in terms of merging magnetic and current structures, and explicitly demonstrate its instability using the energy principle. Following the nonlinear evolution of these solutions, we find that they rapidly develop regions with relativistic velocities and electric fields of comparable magnitude to the magnetic field, liberating magnetic energy on dynamical timescales and eventually settling into a configuration with the largest allowable wavelength. These properties make such solutions a promising setting for exploring the mechanisms behind extreme cosmic sources of gamma rays.

5 pages, 4 figures + 6 pages supplemental material; revised to match version accepted by PRL; for associated movies see http://youtu.be/EPY_yx7H3_Q and http://youtu.be/Umww9oh08C8

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