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Weibel Instability and Deformation of an External Magnetic Field in the Region of Decay of a Strong Discontinuity in a Plasma with Hot Electrons

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Abstract

In this paper, for a number of significantly different parameters of a localized plane layer of collisionless electron–proton plasma and an external magnetic field parallel to its surface, we perform a detailed numerical analysis of the evolution of the magnetic field structure and the dynamics of plasma expansion into vacuum from a region with initially isotropically heated electrons by means of the particle-in-cell simulation. The region has the form of a long semi-cylinder, the axis of which is located on the surface of the plasma layer. We reveal that the process of the decay of such an inhomogeneously heated strong “plasma-vacuum” discontinuity is largely controled by the anisotropy of the resulting electron-velocity distribution and the development of the Weibel instability caused by it. We establish, under certain conditions, the formation and rapid expansion of strongly inhomogeneous electron currents in the form of filaments (similar to z-pinches) parallel to the external magnetic field, as well as the formation and slow evolution of current sheets oriented at various angles to the boundary between the plasma and the deforming magnetic field. It is shown that these currents can produce fields that are much larger than the external magnetic field, and the conditions required for this are qualitatively indicated. The discovered phenomena are possible in coronal loops, stellar wind, and explosive processes in planetary magnetospheres, as well as in laser plasma. The latter makes it possible to model similar phenomena in astrophysical plasma.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 18-29-21 029 (sections 1–3), and the Russian Science Foundation grant no. 19-72-10 111 (sections 4–5). Numerical calculations were performed with computing resources of the Joint Supercomputer Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 603155, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

    M. A. Garasev, A. A. Nechaev, A. N. Stepanov & Vl. V. Kocharovsky

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A & M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA

    V. V. Kocharovsky

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  1. M. A. Garasev
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  2. A. A. Nechaev
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  3. A. N. Stepanov
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  4. V. V. Kocharovsky
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Correspondence to V. V. Kocharovsky.

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Translated by A. Ivanov

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Garasev, M.A., Nechaev, A.A., Stepanov, A.N. et al. Weibel Instability and Deformation of an External Magnetic Field in the Region of Decay of a Strong Discontinuity in a Plasma with Hot Electrons. Geomagn. Aeron. 62, 182–198 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793222030094

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