Coherent transport structures in magnetized plasmas II: Numerical results

TL;DR

This paper numerically investigates Lagrangian Coherent Structures in a 2D magnetic field with island chains, revealing how transport barriers depend on particle velocity in nonlinear, evolving magnetic reconnection scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical approach to analyze Lagrangian Coherent Structures in dynamic magnetic fields, extending previous fixed-field studies.

Findings

Transport barriers vary with particle velocity.

Nonlinear evolution affects the coherence of magnetic structures.

Comparison with fixed-field results highlights dynamic effects.

Abstract

In a pair of linked articles (called Article I and II respectively) we apply the concept of Lagrangian Coherent Structures borrowed from the study of Dynamical Systems to magnetic field configurations in order to separate regions where field lines have different kind of behavior. In the present article, article II, by means of a numerical procedure we investigate the Lagrangian Coherent Structures in the case of a two-dimensional magnetic configuration with two island chains that are generated by magnetic reconnection and evolve nonlinearly in time. The comparison with previous results, obtained by assuming a fixed magnetic field configuration, allows us to explore the dependence of transport barriers on the particle velocity.