Dynamics of whistler spheromaks in magnetized plasmas

Eliasson, B. and Shukla, P. (2007) Dynamics of whistler spheromaks in magnetized plasmas. Physical Review Letters, 99 (20). 205005. ISSN 1079-7114 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.205005)

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Abstract

Recent laboratory experiments [Stenzel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 095004 (2006)] have demonstrated interesting phenomena of propagating nonlinear whistler structures (spheromaks) and stationary field-reversed configurations, whose magnetic fields exceed the ambient magnetic field strength. Our objective here is to present simulation studies for these nonlinear whistler structures based on the three-dimensional nonlinear electron magnetohydrodynamic equations. The robustness and longevity of the propagating whistler spheromaks found in the experiments are confirmed numerically. Varying the toroidal field of the spheromak in the initial conditions, we find that the polarity and the amplitude of the toroidal field determine the propagation direction and speed of the spheromak. Our simulation results are in excellent agreement with those observed in the laboratory experiments.

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