Nonlinear vortex chain associated with tearing mode

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Abstract
A nonlinear stage in the development of the tearing mode instability is studied analytically using a two-fluid plasma description. A coherent nonlinear solution is constructed in the form of a moving single chain of magnetic islands, coupled with a double chain of hydrodynamic vortices. The adiabatic theory of the chain evolution in the presence of finite electron viscosity indicates its finite lifetime and the possibility of intermittency, which provides a new mechanism for the magnetic field stochastization within a layer of a collisionless skin depth scale. This process occurs before the magnetic island overlapping and the global stochastization takes place.