HR: 1340h
AN: SM53B-0430    [Abstracts]
TI: On linear theory of anisotropy instabilities in a current sheet
AU: * Quest, K
EM: quest@fleece.ucsd.edu
AF: UCSD, 950 Gilman Drive, Dept. of ECE, MC 0407, La Jolla, CA 92093-0407 United States
AU: Karimabadi, H
EM: homa@ece.ucsd.edu
AF: UCSD, 950 Gilman Drive, Dept. of ECE, MC 0407, La Jolla, CA 92093-0407 United States
AU: Daughton, W
EM: william-daughton@uiowa.edu
AF: The University of Iowa Department of Physics & Astronomy, 06 Van Allen Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242-1479 United States
AU: Gary, S
EM: pgary@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mail Stop D466, Group ISR-1, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AB: Our recent computer simulations have shown that the presence of even a small electron anisotropy can strongly influence both the linear and nonlinear development of reconnection. It is therefore of great importance to determine the evolution of such anisotropies and whether or not they are rapidly reduced by short-wavelength instabilities. Here we re-examine the linear stability of a bi-Maxwellian Harris equilibrium. In particular, we derive approximate analytic expressions for bound tearing-like perturbations, and show that the predicted eigenfunctions and growth rates are in good agreement with those of our linearized Vlasov solver. Limits of propagation parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field are considered. We also examine the stability of the sheet to three distinct, short-wavelength modes driven unstable by an electron temperature anisotropy: the whistler anisotropy instability, the electron mirror instability and the electron Weibel instability, and discuss their relative importance with emphasis on their roles in isotropizing electrons.
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection
DE: 7843 Numerical simulation studies
DE: 2700 MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS
DE: 2724 Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting