Zonal and streamer structures in magnetic-curvature-driven Rayleigh-Taylor instability

Das, Amita ; Sen, Abhijit ; Mahajan, Sangeeta ; Kaw, Predhiman (2001) Zonal and streamer structures in magnetic-curvature-driven Rayleigh-Taylor instability Physics of Plasmas, 8 (12). pp. 5104-5112. ISSN 1070-664X

Full text not available from this repository.

Official URL: http://pop.aip.org/resource/1/phpaen/v8/i12/p5104_...

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1416483

Abstract

A detailed numerical investigation of the nonlinear evolution of the magnetic curvature-driven Rayleigh-Taylor instability is carried out. The evolution is found to follow one of two distinct paths-that leading to a saturated zonal flow pattern or growing streamer structures. For a fixed value of the density gradient and the magnetic field gradient, the parametric regimes for the occurrence of these two states is delineated in the form of a phase diagram in the D- μ space, where D is the diffusion coefficient and μ is the viscosity parameter. The bifurcation behavior is explained on the basis of a reduced quasilinear model and the final saturated state of zonal flows is understood from a phenomenological zero-dimensional model.

Item Type:Article
Source:Copyright of this article belongs to American Institute of Physics.
ID Code:25200
Deposited On:06 Dec 2010 13:44
Last Modified:28 Jun 2011 06:02

Repository Staff Only: item control page