Role of reconnection in inertial kinetic-Alfven turbulence

Abstract

In a weakly collisional, low-electron-beta plasma, large-scale Alfvén turbulence transforms into inertial kinetic-Alfvén turbulence at scales smaller than the ion microscale (gyroscale or inertial scale). We propose that at such kinetic scales, the nonlinear dynamics tend to organize turbulent eddies into thin current sheets, consistent with the existence of two conserved integrals of the ideal equations, energy and helicity. The formation of strongly anisotropic structures is arrested by the tearing instability that sets a critical aspect ratio of the eddies at each scale $a$ in the plane perpendicular to the guide field. This aspect ratio is defined by the balance of the eddy turnover rate and the tearing rate, and varies from $(d_e/a{)}^{1/2}$ to $d_e/a$ depending on the assumed profile of the current sheets. The energy spectrum of the resulting turbulence varies from $k^{-8/3}$ to $k^{-3}$, and the corresponding spectral anisotropy with respect to the strong background magnetic field from $k_z\lesssim k_{\perp }^{2/3}$ to $k_z\lesssim k_{\perp }$.

published version

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Cited by in corpus (20)

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• Constraints on ion vs. electron heating by plasma turbulence at low beta
• Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection in particle-in-cell simulations of anisotropic plasma turbulence
• Observational quantification of three-dimensional anisotropies and scalings of space plasma turbulence at kinetic scales
• Turbulence and particle acceleration in a relativistic plasma
• The onset of electron-only reconnection
• Subion Scale Turbulence Driven by Magnetic Reconnection
• Dynamic Phase Alignment in Inertial Alfven Turbulence
• Stability of superthermal strahl electrons in the solar wind
• Tearing instability in Alfvén and kinetic-Alfvén turbulence
• The effect of oxygen ions on the stability and polarization of Kinetic Alfvén Waves in the Magnetosphere
• Spatial intermittency of particle distribution in relativistic plasma turbulence
• Electron-Scale Current Sheets and Energy Dissipation in 3D Kinetic-Scale Plasma Turbulence with Low Electron Beta
• Influence of ion-to-electron temperature ratio on tearing instability and resulting subion-scale turbulence in a low-${\beta }_e$ collisionless plasma
• The effect of heavy ions on the dispersion properties of kinetic Alfvén waves in astrophysical plasmas
• On the Effect of Driving Turbulent-like Fluctuations on a Harris-Current Sheet Configuration and the Formation of Plasmoids
• Particle acceleration and pitch-angle evolution in relativistic turbulence
• The role of the thermal properties of electrons on the dispersion properties of Alfvén waves in space plasmas