Large-Scale Collision-Free Instability of Two-Dimensional Plasma Sheets

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Abstract
The stability of a two-dimensional plasma sheet with a small field component parallel to the normal direction of the sheet is studied by means of the energy principle of collision-free kinetic theory. Numerical computations show that, depending on the parameter regime, unstable perturbations exist. The mode resembles a tearing mode. The typical wavelength along the main magnetic field direction is comparable with the scale length of the equilibrium.