Linear analysis of the coalescence instability
- 1 May 1983
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Physics of Fluids
- Vol. 26 (5) , 1275-1278
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.864287
Abstract
The linear instability of pairwise-coalescing magnetic islands is studied analytically and numerically using incompressible ideal magnetohydrodynamics. An energy principle calculation shows that for small values of the island width w, the growth rate of the instability is proportional to w3/2. Numerical simulations are presented giving detailed information about the mode structure.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Numerical Simulations of Forced Coalescence of Magnetic Islands Generated by a Tearing Mode InstabilityJournal of the Physics Society Japan, 1981
- Nonlinear evolution of the sheet pinchJournal of Plasma Physics, 1981
- Coalescence of Magnetic IslandsPhysical Review Letters, 1980
- Coalescence of magnetic islandsPhysics of Fluids, 1979
- Coalescence instability of magnetic islandsPhysics of Fluids, 1977
- Nonlinear growth of the tearing modePhysics of Fluids, 1973
- Instability of two-dimensional collisionless plasmas with neutral pointsPlasma Physics, 1971
- Self-focusing of local plasma currentsNuclear Fusion, 1965
- Finite-Resistivity Instabilities of a Sheet PinchPhysics of Fluids, 1963
- An energy principle for hydromagnetic stability problemsProceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 1958