EVOLUTION OF PLASMOID-CHAIN IN POYNTING-DOMINATED PLASMA
Abstract
We present our recent results of the evolution of the plasmoid-chain in a Poynting dominated plasma. We model the relativistic current sheet with cold background plasma using the relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamic approximation, and solve its temporal evolution numerically. Numerical results show that the initially induced plasmoid triggers a secondary tearing instability. We find the plasmoid-chain greatly enhances the reconnection rate, which becomes independent of the Lundquist number, when this exceeds a critical value. Since magnetic reconnection is expected to play an important role in various high energy astrophysical phenomena, our results can be used for explaining the physical mechanism of them.
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