On the Effect of Driving Turbulent-like Fluctuations on a Harris-Current Sheet Configuration and the Formation of Plasmoids

TL;DR

This study uses 2D particle-in-cell simulations to investigate how turbulent fluctuations influence magnetic reconnection and plasmoid formation in collisionless Harris current sheets, revealing scale-dependent effects on reconnection dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of turbulence on reconnection onset, evolution, and plasmoid disruption in collisionless pair-plasmas, highlighting the role of scale-dependent magnetic fluctuations.

Findings

Turbulent fluctuations can alter the onset and evolution of magnetic reconnection.

A scale-dependent amplitude of fluctuations can disrupt plasmoid growth.

Turbulence provides thermal energy, especially perpendicular, to particles within the current sheet.

Abstract

Energy dissipation in collisionless plasmas is one of the most outstanding open questions in plasma physics. Magnetic reconnection and turbulence are two phenomena that can produce the conditions for energy dissipation. These two phenomena are closely related to each other in a wide range of plasmas. Turbulent fluctuations can emerge in critical regions of reconnection events, and magnetic reconnection can occur as a product of the turbulent cascade. In this study, we perform 2D particle-in-cell simulations of a reconnecting Harris current sheet in the presence of turbulent fluctuations to explore the effect of turbulence on the reconnection process in collisionless non-relativistic pair-plasmas. We find that the presence of a turbulent field can affect the onset and evolution of magnetic reconnection. Moreover, we observe the existence of a scale dependent amplitude of magnetic field fluctuations above which these fluctuations are able to disrupt the growing of magnetic islands. These fluctuations provide thermal energy to the particles within the current sheet and preferential perpendicular thermal energy to the background population.