FLR effects in nonlinear tearing mode reconnection

POSTER

Abstract

The influence of ion Finite Larmor Radius (FLR) effects in the evolution of the tearing mode is studied analytically and numerically. We use a gyrofluid extension of the usual two-field, reduced MHD equations, where closure is provided by the Gyrokinetic Poisson's law. Two-dimensional slab geometry is adopted. In the linear regime it is shown that significative enhancement of the growth rate of the mode occurs when the ion Larmor radius ($\rho_{i,s}$) exceeds the width of the dissipation layer. Nonlinearly, detailed comparison studies between the classic, no FLR case, and the finite $\rho_{i,s}$ case are presented. In particular, we show how several nonlinear transitional criteria established for the classic case are changed due to the presence of these terms.

*Work funded by The Center for Multiscale Plasma Dynamics, the U.S. Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FC02-04ER54784.

Authors

  • N.F. Loureiro

    • CMPD -- UMD / PPPL
    • CMPD-UMD / PPPL
  • Steve Cowley

    • UCLA / Imperial College London
    • UCLA
    • Center for Multi-Scale Plasma Dynamics, Department of Physics \& Astronomy, UCLA, Box 951547, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547
  • W.D. Dorland

    • CMPD -- UMD
    • Univ. of MD, Dept. of Physics
    • University of Maryland
    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • U. Maryland
  • Gregory Hammett

    • PPPL
  • Alexander Schekochihin

    • University of Cambridge