HR: 1340h
AN: SM23B-0417    [Abstracts]
TI: A new approach to the equilibrium and stability of current sheets
AU: Camporeale, E
EM: enrico@lanl.gov
AF: LANL, T-15 Plasma Theory Group, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: * Delzanno, G
EM: delzanno@lanl.gov
AF: LANL, T-15 Plasma Theory Group, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Lapenta, G
EM: lapenta@lanl.gov
AF: LANL, T-15 Plasma Theory Group, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Daughton, W
EM: william-daughton@uiowa.edu
AF: University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, 52242 United States
AB: We described a new approach for solving the linearized Vlasov-Maxwell set of equations. The defining characteristic of the new approach is that the perturbed distribution function is described as an infinite series of orthogonal functions, chosen as Hermite-Grad polynomials. This technique is based on profound and robust theory but results in an easy implementation that avoids integration over the unperturbed trajectories and can be applied to any equilibrium. A major advantage of the approach is the direct physical meaning of the low-order coefficients is clear. The stability of an initial Harris current sheet has been studied, focusing on several instabilities (LHDI, DKI, tearing), and comparing the results with particle-in-cell simulations. While in practice the series need to be truncated and the contribution from higher order terms need to be neglected, the accuracy of solution, which depends on the number of terms taken in account in the Hermite series, is merely a problem of computational power. Furthermore the code can be used to address the issue of linear stability of more realistic current equilibria proposed theoretically [1] or observed experimentally. [1] E. Camporeale, G. Lapenta, J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 110, No. A7, A07206, 10.1029/2004JA010779, 2005.
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
DE: 2772 Plasma waves and instabilities (2471)
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005