A family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions describing a transition from the Harris sheet to the force-free Harris sheet

Abstract

We discuss a family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions for current sheet equilibria that are intermediate cases between the Harris sheet and the force-free (or modified) Harris sheet. These equilibrium distribution functions have potential applications to space and astrophysical plasmas. The existence of these distribution function had been briefly discussed in by Harrison and Neukirch 2009, but here it is shown that their approach runs into problems in the limit where the guide field goes to zero. The nature of this problem will be discussed and an alternative approach will be suggested that avoids the problem. This is achieved by considering a slight variation of the magnetic field profile, which allows a smooth transition between the Harris and force-free Harris sheet cases.

13 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Journal of Plasma Physics

References in corpus (5)

• Formation of Hard Power-laws in the Energetic Particle Spectra Resulting from Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection
• A one-dimensional Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium for the force-free Harris sheet
• Some remarks on one-dimensional force-free Vlasov-Maxwell equilibria
• Kinetic models of tangential discontinuities in the solar wind
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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Solar wind discontinuity transformation at the bow shock
• Force-free current sheets in the Jovian magnetodisk: the key role of electron field-aligned anisotropy
• Kinetic-scale flux ropes: Observations and applications of kinetic equilibrium models
• Kinetic equilibrium of two-dimensional force-free current sheets