Tearing instability in Alfvén and kinetic-Alfvén turbulence

Abstract

Recently, it has been realized that magnetic plasma turbulence and magnetic field reconnection are inherently related phenomena. Turbulent fluctuations generate regions of a 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 discussion 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.

A book chapter in AGU Book "Solar and Heliospheric Plasma Structures" (to appear)

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Magnetic reconnection in the era of exascale computing and multiscale experiments
• Reconnection-Driven Energy Cascade in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
• The spectrum of magnetized turbulence in the interstellar medium
• On the Effect of Driving Turbulent-like Fluctuations on a Harris-Current Sheet Configuration and the Formation of Plasmoids
• Pair-Regulated Klein-Nishina Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection with Applications to Blazars and Accreting Black Holes