Current-Sheet Formation in 3D Ideal Incompressible Magnetohydrodynamics

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Abstract
The evolution of current density and vorticity in the ideal, inviscid incompressible magnetohydrodynamic equations in three dimensions is studied numerically. Highly effective resolutions are obtained by adaptive structured mesh refinement techniques. We report on results for three different initial conditions showing similar behavior: in the early stage of the evolution a fast increase in vorticity and current density is observed. Thereafter, the evolution towards nearly two-dimensional current sheets results in a depletion of nonlinearity.