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1. Spectral signatures of recursive magnetic field reconnection

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3310  

   Tenerani, A. ; Velli, M. ( November 2019 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   We use 2.5D magnetohydrodynamic simulations to investigate the spectral signatures of the non-linear disruption of a tearing unstable current sheet via the generation of multiple secondary current sheets and magnetic islands. During the non-linear phase of tearing mode evolution, there develops a regime in which the magnetic energy density shows a spectrum with a power law close to B(k)2 ∼ k−0.8. Such an energy spectrum is found in correspondence of the neutral line, within the diffusion region of the primary current sheet, where energy is conveyed towards smaller scales via a ‘recursive’ process of fast tearing-type instabilities. Far from the neutral line, we find that magnetic energy spectra evolve towards slopes compatible with the ‘standard’ Kolmogorov spectrum. Starting from a self-similar description of the non-linear stage at the neutral line, we provide a model that predicts a reconnecting magnetic field energy spectrum scaling as k−4/5, in good agreement with numerical results. An extension of the predicted power law to generic current sheet profiles is also given and possible implications for turbulence phenomenology are discussed. These results provide a step forward to understand the ‘recursive’ generation of magnetic islands (plasmoids), which has been proposed as a possible explanation for the energy release during flares, but which, more in general, can have an impact on the subsequent turbulent evolution of unstable sheets that naturally form in the high Lundquist number and collisionless plasmas found in most of the astrophysical environments.

    

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2. Spectra of Magnetic Turbulence in a Relativistic Plasma

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac6cde  

   Vega, Cristian ; Boldyrev, Stanislav ; Roytershteyn, Vadim ( May 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   We present a phenomenological and numerical study of strong Alfvénic turbulence in a magnetically dominated collisionless relativistic plasma with a strong background magnetic field. In contrast with the nonrelativistic case, the energy in such turbulence is contained in magnetic and electric fluctuations. We argue that such turbulence is analogous to turbulence in a strongly magnetized nonrelativistic plasma in the regime of broken quasi-neutrality. Our 2D particle-in-cell numerical simulations of turbulence in a relativistic pair plasma find that the spectrum of the total energy has the scalingk^−3/2, while the difference between the magnetic and electric energies, the so-called residual energy, has the scalingk^−2.4. The electric and magnetic fluctuations at scaleℓexhibit dynamic alignment with the alignment angle scaling close to$\cos {\varphi }_{\mathit{\ell }}\propto {\mathit{\ell }}^{1/4}$. At scales smaller than the (relativistic) plasma inertial scale, the energy spectrum of relativistic inertial Alfvén turbulence steepens tok^−3.5.

    

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3. Turbulence in the Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac51da  

   Zank, G. P. ; Zhao, L. -L. ; Adhikari, L. ; Telloni, D. ; Kasper, J. C. ; Stevens, M. ; Rahmati, A. ; Bale, S. D. ( February 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) entered a region of sub-Alfvénic solar wind during encounter 8, and we present the first detailed analysis of low-frequency turbulence properties in this novel region. The magnetic field and flow velocity vectors were highly aligned during this interval. By constructing spectrograms of the normalized magnetic helicity, cross-helicity, and residual energy, we find that PSP observed primarily Alfvénic fluctuations, a consequence of the highly field-aligned flow that renders quasi-2D fluctuations unobservable to PSP. We extend Taylor’s hypothesis to sub- and super-Alfvénic flows. Spectra for the fluctuating forward and backward Elsässer variables (z^±, respectively) are presented, showing thatz⁺modes dominatez⁻by an order of magnitude or more, and thez⁺spectrum is a power law in frequency (parallel wavenumber)f^−3/2($k_{\parallel }^{-3/2}$) compared to the convexz⁻spectrum withf^−3/2($k_{\parallel }^{-3/2}$) at low frequencies, flattening around a transition frequency (at which the nonlinear and Alfvén timescales are balanced) tof^−1.25at higher frequencies. The observed spectra are well fitted using a spectral theory for nearly incompressible magnetohydrodynamics assuming a wavenumber anisotropy$k_{\perp }\sim k_{\parallel }^{3/4}$, that thez⁺fluctuations experience primarily nonlinear interactions, and that the minorityz⁻fluctuations experience both nonlinear and Alfvénic interactions withz⁺fluctuations. The density spectrum is a power law that resembles neither thez^±spectra nor the compressible magnetic field spectrum, suggesting that these are advected entropic rather than magnetosonic modes and not due to the parametric decay instability. Spectra in the neighboring modestly super-Alfvénic intervals are similar.

    

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4. Reconnection and particle acceleration in three-dimensional current sheet evolution in moderately magnetized astrophysical pair plasma

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377821001185  

   Werner, Gregory R. ; Uzdensky, Dmitri A. ( December 2021 , Journal of Plasma Physics)

   Magnetic reconnection, a plasma process converting magnetic energy to particle kinetic energy, is often invoked to explain magnetic energy releases powering high-energy flares in astrophysical sources including pulsar wind nebulae and black hole jets. Reconnection is usually seen as the (essentially two-dimensional) nonlinear evolution of the tearing instability disrupting a thin current sheet. To test how this process operates in three dimensions, we conduct a comprehensive particle-in-cell simulation study comparing two- and three-dimensional evolution of long, thin current sheets in moderately magnetized, collisionless, relativistically hot electron–positron plasma, and find dramatic differences. We first systematically characterize this process in two dimensions, where classic, hierarchical plasmoid-chain reconnection determines energy release, and explore a wide range of initial configurations, guide magnetic field strengths and system sizes. We then show that three-dimensional (3-D) simulations of similar configurations exhibit a diversity of behaviours, including some where energy release is determined by the nonlinear relativistic drift-kink instability. Thus, 3-D current sheet evolution is not always fundamentally classical reconnection with perturbing 3-D effects but, rather, a complex interplay of multiple linear and nonlinear instabilities whose relative importance depends sensitively on the ambient plasma, minor configuration details and even stochastic events. It often yields slower but longer-lasting and ultimately greater magnetic energy release than in two dimensions. Intriguingly, non-thermal particle acceleration is astonishingly robust, depending on the upstream magnetization and guide field, but otherwise yielding similar particle energy spectra in two and three dimensions. Although the variety of underlying current sheet behaviours is interesting, the similarities in overall energy release and particle spectra may be more remarkable. 

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5. Characterization of Turbulent Fluctuations in the Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad34ab  

   Zank, G. P. ; Zhao, L. -L. ; Adhikari, L. ; Telloni, D. ; Baruwal, Prashant ; Baruwal, Prashrit ; Zhu, Xingyu ; Nakanotani, M. ; Pitňa, A. ; Kasper, J. C. ; et al ( April 2024 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observed sub-Alfvénic solar wind intervals during encounters 8–14, and low-frequency magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in these regions may differ from that in super-Alfvénic wind. We apply a new mode decomposition analysis to the sub-Alfvénic flow observed by PSP on 2021 April 28, identifying and characterizing entropy, magnetic islands, forward and backward Alfvén waves, including weakly/nonpropagating Alfvén vortices, forward and backward fast and slow magnetosonic (MS) modes. Density fluctuations are primarily and almost equally entropy- and backward-propagating slow MS modes. The mode decomposition provides phase information (frequency and wavenumberk) for each mode. Entropy density fluctuations have a wavenumber anisotropy ofk_∥≫k_⊥, whereas slow-mode density fluctuations havek_⊥>k_∥. Magnetic field fluctuations are primarily magnetic island modes (δBⁱ) with anO(1) smaller contribution from unidirectionally propagating Alfvén waves (δB^A+) giving a variance anisotropy of$〈{\delta B^i}^2〉/〈{\delta B^A}^2〉=4.1$. Incompressible magnetic fluctuations dominate compressible contributions from fast and slow MS modes. The magnetic island spectrum is Kolmogorov-like$k_{\perp }^{-1.6}$in perpendicular wavenumber, and the unidirectional Alfvén wave spectra are$k_{\parallel }^{-1.6}$and$k_{\perp }^{-1.5}$. Fast MS modes propagate at essentially the Alfvén speed with anticorrelated transverse velocity and magnetic field fluctuations and are almost exclusively magnetic due toβ_p≪ 1. Transverse velocity fluctuations are the dominant velocity component in fast MS modes, and longitudinal fluctuations dominate in slow modes. Mode decomposition is an effective tool in identifying the basic building blocks of MHD turbulence and provides detailed phase information about each of the modes.

    

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