Abstract
Relativistic current sheets (RCSs) feature plasma instabilities considered as the potential key to magnetic energy dissipation in Poynting-flux-dominated plasma flows. Kinetic plasma simulations show that the physical nature of RCS evolution changes in the presence of radiation losses: In the ultrarelativistic regime (i.e., magnetization parameter defined as the ratio of magnetic to plasma rest frame energy density), the combined effect of nonlinear RCS dynamics and synchrotron emission introduces a temperature anisotropy triggering the growth of the relativistic tearing mode. In contrast to previous studies of the RCS with , the relativistic tearing mode then prevails over the drift kink mode. The ultrarelativistic RCS shows a typical life cycle from radiation-induced collapse towards a radiation-quiescent phase with topology analogous to that introduced by Sweet and Parker.
- Received 25 November 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.075002
©2009 American Physical Society