Three-Dimensional Stability of Thin Current Sheet

在亚暴的成长阶段，地球磁尾的磁场向反太阳方向伸展，并向南北方向压缩。 这就在中心附近产生了一层薄薄的电流。 拟议的研究将检查这些薄电流片的物理特性，并调查该片可能变得不稳定的条件。 电流片的不稳定性很可能是导致能量爆炸性释放的原因，这种能量被称为磁亚暴。 拟议的研究将使用非局部线性稳定性分析的两种流体等离子体。 几个潜在的不稳定性将被检查，包括交叉场电流不稳定性，气球模不稳定性和各种交换不稳定性。 非局部稳定性分析完成后，将结果推广到一个动力学形式主义，可以用来检查无碰撞撕裂不稳定性。

During the growth phase of a substorm the magnetic field in the Earth's magnetotail stretches out in the anti-sunward direction and becomes compressed in the N-S direction. This produces a thin sheet of electric current near the center. The proposed research will examine the physics of these thin current sheets and investigate the conditions under which the sheet may become unstable. Instabilities in the current sheet are a likely cause of the explosive release of energy known as a magnetic sub-storm. The proposed research will use a nonlocal linear stability analysis for a two-fluid plasma. Several potential instabilities will be examined, including the Cross-field current Instability, the ballooning mode instability and various interchange instabilities. After the nonlocal stability analysis has been completed the results will be generalized to a kinetic formalism that can be used to examine the collisionless tearing instability.