Streaming Tearing Mode

Abstract

The magnetohydrodynamic stability of streaming tearing mode is investigated numerically. A bulk plasma flow parallel to the anti-parallel magnetic field lines and localized in the neutral sheet excites a streaming tearing mode more strongly than the usual tearing mode, particularly for the wavelength of the order of the neutral sheet width or smaller which is stable for the usual tearing mode. Interestingly, examination of the eigenfunctions of the velocity perturbation and the magnetic field perturbation indicates that the streaming tearing mode carries more energy in terms of the kinetic energy rather than the magnetic energy. This suggests that the streaming tearing mode instability can be a more feasible mechanism of plasma acceleration than the usual tearing mode instability.