Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer
Magnetic energy transfer from small to large scales due to successive magnetic island coalescence is investigated. A solvable analytical model is introduced and shown to correctly capture the evolution of the main quantities of interest, as borne out by direct numerical simulations. Magnetic recon...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Physical Society (APS)
2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124331 |
| _version_ | 1811075088982736896 |
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| author | Zhou, Muni Bhat, Pallavi Gomes Loureiro, Nuno F Uzdensky, Dmitri A. Zhou, Muni |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Zhou, Muni Bhat, Pallavi Gomes Loureiro, Nuno F Uzdensky, Dmitri A. Zhou, Muni |
| author_sort | Zhou, Muni |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Magnetic energy transfer from small to large scales due to successive magnetic island coalescence is
investigated. A solvable analytical model is introduced and shown to correctly capture the evolution of the main
quantities of interest, as borne out by direct numerical simulations. Magnetic reconnection is identified as the
key mechanism enabling the inverse transfer, and setting its properties: Magnetic energy decays as [˜ over t][superscript −1], where [˜ over t] is time normalized to the (appropriately defined) reconnection timescale, and the correlation length of the field grows as [˜ over t][superscript 1/2]. The magnetic energy spectrum is self-similar, and evolves as ∝[˜ over t][superscript −3/2]k[superscript −2,] where the k dependence
is imparted by the formation of thin current sheets. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:00:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/124331 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:00:38Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | American Physical Society (APS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1243312022-09-26T15:08:47Z Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer Zhou, Muni Bhat, Pallavi Gomes Loureiro, Nuno F Uzdensky, Dmitri A. Zhou, Muni Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center Magnetic energy transfer from small to large scales due to successive magnetic island coalescence is investigated. A solvable analytical model is introduced and shown to correctly capture the evolution of the main quantities of interest, as borne out by direct numerical simulations. Magnetic reconnection is identified as the key mechanism enabling the inverse transfer, and setting its properties: Magnetic energy decays as [˜ over t][superscript −1], where [˜ over t] is time normalized to the (appropriately defined) reconnection timescale, and the correlation length of the field grows as [˜ over t][superscript 1/2]. The magnetic energy spectrum is self-similar, and evolves as ∝[˜ over t][superscript −3/2]k[superscript −2,] where the k dependence is imparted by the formation of thin current sheets. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CAREER Award 1654168) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award DE-SC0016215) United States. Department of Energy (Award DE-SC0016215) 2020-03-25T18:14:07Z 2020-03-25T18:14:07Z 2019-08-09 2019-01-08 2020-02-27T15:11:01Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2643-1564 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124331 Muni Zhou et al. "Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer." Physical Research Review 1, 1 (August, 2019): 012004(R). © 2019 American Physical Society en 10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.1.012004 Physical Review Research Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf American Physical Society (APS) APS |
| spellingShingle | Zhou, Muni Bhat, Pallavi Gomes Loureiro, Nuno F Uzdensky, Dmitri A. Zhou, Muni Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer |
| title | Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer |
| title_full | Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer |
| title_fullStr | Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer |
| title_short | Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer |
| title_sort | magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124331 |
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