Effect of guide field on three dimensional electron shear flow instabilities in collisionless magnetic reconnection

Publication Year
2015

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

We examine the effect of an external guide field and current sheet thickness on the growth rates and nature of three dimensional unstable modes of an electron current sheet driven by electron shear flow. The growth rate of the fastest growing mode drops rapidly with current sheet thickness but increases slowly with the strength of the guide field. The fastest growing mode is tearing type only for thin current sheets (half thickness ≈de

Journal
Physics of Plasmas