Magnetic field amplification and structure formation by the Rayleigh-Taylor instability

Abstract

We report on results of high resolution two fluid non-linear simulations of the Rayleigh Taylor Instability (RTI) at the interface between a solar prominence and the corona. These follow results reported earlier by Popescu Braileanu et al. (2021a,b) on linear and early non-linear RTI dynamics in this environment. The simulations use a two fluid model that includes collisions between neutrals and charges, including ionization/recombination, energy and momentum transfer, and frictional heating. High resolution 2.5D magnetized RTI simulations with the magnetic field dominantly normal to and slightly sheared with respect to the prominence plane demonstrate that in a fully developed state of RTI a large fraction of the gravitational energy of a prominence thread can be converted into quasi-turbulent energy of the magnetic field. RTI magnetic energy generation is further accompanied by magnetic and plasma density structure formation, including dynamic formation, break-up, and merging of current sheets and plasmoid sub-structures. The simulations show the role of flow decoupling and ionization/recombination reactions between the neutrals and charges on the structure formation in magnetized RTI. We provide a careful examination of sources and form of numerical dissipation of the evolving magnetic field structures.

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Particle acceleration by magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability: mechanism for flares in black-hole accretion flows
• Two-fluid reconnection jets in a gravitationally stratified atmosphere
• Simulating Rayleigh-Taylor induced magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in prominences
• Mixing, heating and ion-neutral decoupling induced by Rayleigh-Taylor instability in prominence-corona transition regions
• Convergence study of ambipolar diffusion in realistic simulations of magneto-convection
• Future Prospects for Partially Ionised Solar Plasmas: the Prominence Case
• The Rayleigh Taylor instability in partially ionized plasmas: ambipolar diffusion effects in the non linear phase