Chiral magnetovortical instability

TL;DR

This paper introduces the chiral magnetovortical instability, a new magnetohydrodynamic phenomenon in chiral plasmas where magnetic and vortical fields mutually amplify, transferring particle chirality to plasma helicity.

Contribution

It identifies and characterizes a novel instability driven by the chiral vortical effect in magnetized plasmas, linking particle chirality to magnetic field amplification.

Findings

The instability causes rapid magnetic field growth.

It demonstrates transfer of particle chirality to plasma helicity.

The effect occurs in chiral plasmas under external magnetic fields.

Abstract

We demonstrate that in a chiral plasma subject to an external magnetic field, the chiral vortical effect can induce a new type of magnetohydrodynamic instability which we refer to as the {\it chiral magnetovortical instability}. This instability arises from the mutual evolution of the magnetic and vortical fields. It can cause a rapid amplification of the magnetic fields by transferring the chirality of the constituent particles to the cross helicity of the plasma.