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Investigation of the collisionless plasmoid instability based on gyrofluid and gyrokinetic integrated approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2023

C. Granier Open the ORCID record for C. Granier [Opens in a new window] ,
R. Numata Open the ORCID record for R. Numata [Opens in a new window] ,
D. Borgogno Open the ORCID record for D. Borgogno [Opens in a new window] ,
E. Tassi Open the ORCID record for E. Tassi [Opens in a new window]  and
D. Grasso Open the ORCID record for D. Grasso [Opens in a new window]
C. Granier*
Affiliation:
Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Laboratoire J. L. Lagrange, Boulevard de l'Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
R. Numata
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Information Science, University of Hyogo, Kobe 650-0047, Japan
D. Borgogno
Affiliation:
Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi - CNR and Dipartimento di Energia, Politecnico di Torino, Torino 10129, Italy
E. Tassi
Affiliation:
Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Laboratoire J. L. Lagrange, Boulevard de l'Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
D. Grasso
Affiliation:
Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi - CNR and Dipartimento di Energia, Politecnico di Torino, Torino 10129, Italy
*
†Email address for correspondence: camille.granier@oca.eu
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Abstract

In this work, the development of two-dimensional current sheets with respect to tearing modes, in collisionless plasmas with a strong guide field, is analysed. During their nonlinear evolution, these thin current sheets can become unstable to the formation of plasmoids, which allows the magnetic reconnection process to reach high reconnection rates. We carry out a detailed study of the effect of a finite $\beta _e$, which also implies finite electron Larmor radius effects, on the collisionless plasmoid instability. This study is conducted through a comparison of gyrofluid and gyrokinetic simulations. The comparison shows in general a good capability of the gyrofluid models in predicting the plasmoid instability observed with gyrokinetic simulations. We show that the effects of $\beta _e$ promotes the plasmoid growth. The effect of the closure applied during the derivation of the gyrofluid model is also studied through the comparison among the variations of the different contributions to the total energy.

Keywords

plasma instabilitiesastrophysical plasmasplasma simulation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 89 , Issue 4 , August 2023 , 905890404
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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