Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T01:17:56.075Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Spectral analysis of turbulent effects on resistivity and the tearing instability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

D. Deeds
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Irvine, U.S.A.
G. van Hoven
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Irvine, U.S.A.

Abstract

Biskamp and Welter (1983) have defined an anomalous resistivity due to shortwavelength turbulence. They reported that this resistivity can be of either sign, and that negative anomalous resistivity in particular can affect the growth of the tearing instability. We use a spectral numerical-simulation code and ancillary diagnostics to analyse the behaviour of resistive magnetic tearing in the presence of turbulence of the sort postulated by Biskamp and Welter. We find that, in general, the ‘anomalous resistivity’ tends to return quickly towards zero even when artificially supported away from zero, and that its effect on tearing-mode behaviour is not consistent with its interpretation as a resistivity. We investigate analytically the behaviour reported by Biskamp and Welter, and the behaviour we observe. We also argue that, while not meaningful as a true resistivity, the ‘anomalous-resistivity’ parameter is a useful diagnostic showing the energy balance of the System – a property we refer to as Alfvénicity – illustrating, for example, the onset of nonlinearity in the tearing process.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Biskamp, D. & Welter, H. 1983 Phys. Lett. 96A, 25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, M. A. & Van Hoven, G. 1971 Phys. Rev. A4, 2347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furth, H. P., Killeen, J. & Rosenbluth, M. N. 1963 Phys. Fluids, 6, 459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthaeus, W. H. & Lamkin, S. L. 1986 Phys. Fluids, 29, 2513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthaeus, W. H. & Montgomery, D. 1981 J. Plasma Phys. 25, 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mok, Y. & Einaudi, G. 1985 J. Plasma Phys. 33, 199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montgomery, D. & Hatori, T. 1984 Plasma Phys. Contr. Fusion, 26, 717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priest, E. R. 1985 Rep. Prog. Phys. 48, 955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schnack, D. D. & Killeen, J. 1978 Theoretical and Computational Plasma Physics, p. 337. IAEA, Vienna.Google Scholar
Van Hoven, G. & Cross, M. A. 1973 Phys. Rev. A7, 1347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar