2018/05/18 by Makoto Takamoto, Yosuke Matsumoto, Tsunehiko N. Kato · 18 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Coalescence (physics) #Electron #Instability #Ion #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Kinetic energy #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Magnetic field #Magnetic pressure #Plasma #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Weibel instability #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.HE #physics.ins-det #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aac6d6
published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters 860(1), L1 (IOP Publishing) · 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
arxiv created 2018/05/18 · openalex created_date 2018/06/01 · openalex publication_date 2018/06/06 · arxiv updated 2018/06/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract The time evolution and saturation of the Weibel instability at the ion Alfvén current are presented by ab initio particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. We found that the ion Weibel current in three-dimensional (3D) simulations could evolve into the Alfvén current where the magnetic field energy is sustained at 1.5% of the initial beam kinetic energy. The current filaments are no longer isolated at saturation, but rather connected to each other to form a network structure. Electrons are continuously heated during the coalescence of the filaments, which is crucial for obtaining sustained magnetic fields with much stronger levels than with two-dimensional (2D) simulations. The results highlight again the importance of the Weibel instability in generating magnetic fields in laboratory, astrophysical, and cosmological situations.