A Study of Energy Transport on Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in MHD Plasmas

Physics – Geophysics

Scientific paper

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1721 Nonlinear Geophysics, 2700 Magnetospheric Physics (6939), 2724 Magnetopause And Boundary Layers, 2728 Magnetosheath, 2752 Mhd Waves And Instabilities (2149, 6050, 7836)

Scientific paper

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability on a tangential discontinuity (TD) with a finite thickness is studied by means of a two-dimensional MHD simulation. It is found that the nonlinear evolution of the K-H instability depends on the fast-mode Mach number of the surface wave obtained in the plasma rest frame. When the fast-mode Mach numbers on both sides of the TD are less than 1, the surface waves will be amplified by the K-H instability and grow into vortex structures or kink-type surface waves. When the fast- mode Mach number on either side of the surface wave is greater than 1, the surface disturbances associated with the K-H instability can generate fast-mode nonlinear plane waves on that side of the TD. Energy transport on the K-H instability is addressed in this study. Results of the energy transport indicate that most of the energy transfer process takes place near the velocity shear layer for the low-Mach-number K-H instability. For the high-Mach-number K-H instability, a huge amount of the energy is transported away from the velocity shear layer with the expanding of the nonlinear plane waves. Thus, it is suggested that the high-Mach-number K-H instability can provide a steady and efficient mechanism, more efficient than previous studies have found, for the energy transport in the collisionless space plasma.

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