A family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions describing a transition from the Harris sheet to the force-free Harris sheet

T. Neukirch; F. Wilson; O. Allanson

doi:10.1017/S0022377820000604

A family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions describing a transition from the Harris sheet to the force-free Harris sheet

T. Neukirch^*, F. Wilson, O. Allanson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Applied Mathematics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We discuss a family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions for current sheet equilibria that are intermediate cases between the Harris sheet and the force-free (or modified) Harris sheet. These equilibrium distribution functions have potential applications to space and astrophysical plasmas. The existence of these distribution function had been briefly discussed in by Harrison and Neukirch 2009, but here it is shown that their approach runs into problems in the limit where the guide field goes to zero. The nature of this problem will be discussed and an alternative approach will be suggested that avoids the problem. This is achieved by considering a slight variation of the magnetic field profile, which allows a smooth transition between the Harris and force-free Harris sheet cases.

Original language	English
Article number	825860302
Number of pages	13
Journal	Journal of Plasma Physics
Volume	86
Issue number	3
Early online date	19 Jun 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377820000604
Publication status	Published - Jul 2020

Keywords

Astrophysical plasmas
Space plasma physics

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10.1017/S0022377820000604

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Accepted author manuscript, 955 KB

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.10238.pdf

Solar and Magnetospheric: Solar and Magnetospheric Magnetohydrodynamics and Plasmas: Theory and Application
Hood, A. W. (PI), Archontis, V. (CoI), De Moortel, I. (CoI), Mackay, D. H. (CoI), Neukirch, T. (CoI), Parnell, C. E. (CoI) & Wright, A. N. (CoI)
Science & Technology Facilities Council
1/04/19 → 31/03/22
Project: Standard
Solar and Magnetospheric - Consolidated: Solar and Magnetospheric Magnetohydrodynamics and Plasmas: Theory and Application
Hood, A. W. (PI), Archontis, V. (CoI), De Moortel, I. (CoI), Mackay, D. H. (CoI), Neukirch, T. (CoI), Parnell, C. E. (CoI) & Wright, A. N. (CoI)
Science & Technology Facilities Council
1/04/16 → 31/03/19
Project: Standard
Plasma Theory: Solar and Magnetospheric Plasma Theory
Hood, A. W. (PI), Mackay, D. H. (CoI), Neukirch, T. (CoI), Parnell, C. E. (CoI), Priest, E. (CoI), Archontis, V. (Researcher), Cargill, P. (Researcher), De Moortel, I. (Researcher) & Wright, A. N. (Researcher)
Science & Technology Facilities Council
1/04/13 → 31/03/16
Project: Standard

Cite this

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title = "A family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions describing a transition from the Harris sheet to the force-free Harris sheet",

abstract = "We discuss a family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions for current sheet equilibria that are intermediate cases between the Harris sheet and the force-free (or modified) Harris sheet. These equilibrium distribution functions have potential applications to space and astrophysical plasmas. The existence of these distribution function had been briefly discussed in by Harrison and Neukirch 2009, but here it is shown that their approach runs into problems in the limit where the guide field goes to zero. The nature of this problem will be discussed and an alternative approach will be suggested that avoids the problem. This is achieved by considering a slight variation of the magnetic field profile, which allows a smooth transition between the Harris and force-free Harris sheet cases. ",

keywords = "Astrophysical plasmas, Space plasma physics",

author = "T. Neukirch and F. Wilson and O. Allanson",

note = "Funding: UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) via the consolidated grants ST/K000950/1, ST/N000609/1, and ST/S000402/1(T.N. and F.W.) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Highlight Topic Grant no. NE/P017274/1 (Rad-Sat) (O.A.). T.N. and F.W. would also like to thank the University of St Andrews for general financial support.",

year = "2020",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1017/S0022377820000604",

language = "English",

volume = "86",

journal = "Journal of Plasma Physics",

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T1 - A family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions describing a transition from the Harris sheet to the force-free Harris sheet

AU - Neukirch, T.

AU - Wilson, F.

AU - Allanson, O.

N1 - Funding: UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) via the consolidated grants ST/K000950/1, ST/N000609/1, and ST/S000402/1(T.N. and F.W.) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Highlight Topic Grant no. NE/P017274/1 (Rad-Sat) (O.A.). T.N. and F.W. would also like to thank the University of St Andrews for general financial support.

PY - 2020/7

Y1 - 2020/7

N2 - We discuss a family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions for current sheet equilibria that are intermediate cases between the Harris sheet and the force-free (or modified) Harris sheet. These equilibrium distribution functions have potential applications to space and astrophysical plasmas. The existence of these distribution function had been briefly discussed in by Harrison and Neukirch 2009, but here it is shown that their approach runs into problems in the limit where the guide field goes to zero. The nature of this problem will be discussed and an alternative approach will be suggested that avoids the problem. This is achieved by considering a slight variation of the magnetic field profile, which allows a smooth transition between the Harris and force-free Harris sheet cases.

AB - We discuss a family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions for current sheet equilibria that are intermediate cases between the Harris sheet and the force-free (or modified) Harris sheet. These equilibrium distribution functions have potential applications to space and astrophysical plasmas. The existence of these distribution function had been briefly discussed in by Harrison and Neukirch 2009, but here it is shown that their approach runs into problems in the limit where the guide field goes to zero. The nature of this problem will be discussed and an alternative approach will be suggested that avoids the problem. This is achieved by considering a slight variation of the magnetic field profile, which allows a smooth transition between the Harris and force-free Harris sheet cases.

KW - Astrophysical plasmas

KW - Space plasma physics

U2 - 10.1017/S0022377820000604

DO - 10.1017/S0022377820000604

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-3778

VL - 86

JO - Journal of Plasma Physics

JF - Journal of Plasma Physics

IS - 3

M1 - 825860302

ER -

A family of Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium distribution functions describing a transition from the Harris sheet to the force-free Harris sheet

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Projects

Solar and Magnetospheric: Solar and Magnetospheric Magnetohydrodynamics and Plasmas: Theory and Application

Solar and Magnetospheric - Consolidated: Solar and Magnetospheric Magnetohydrodynamics and Plasmas: Theory and Application

Plasma Theory: Solar and Magnetospheric Plasma Theory

Cite this