Magnetic reconnection induced by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability

Abstract

MHD simulation study is performed to investigate magnetic reconnection induced by the Kelvin Helmholtz instability in the initially sheared magnetic field geometry as well as in the uniform magnetic field geometry. Slow mode rarefaction structures seen in the uniform field case are not observed in the sheared field case. Dynamo action is less prominent and the conversion of plasma flow energy into the other forms of energy is also smaller in the sheared field case than in the uniform field case. Momentum transport is mostly due to the hydrodynamic stress in the sheared field case, while the electromagnetic stress is dominant in the uniform field case. The long term evolutions are also markedly different in the two cases. In the uniform field geometry, the magnetic field lines twisted due to the Kelvin Helmholtz instability become reconnected and flattened so that they resume the straight held line structure which resembles the initial field geometry. The magnetic field, however, is not uniform with smaller intensity in the central region where the pressure balance is partially maintained by the enhanced thermal pressure. In the initially sheared magnetic field geometry, magnetic reconnection continues to operate until the end of the simulation and the conversion of the flow energy into the thermal energy is still seen.