Daniel Urbanski, UT-Austin

"Unified Framework of Forced Magnetic Reconnection and Alfvén Wave Resonance"

Abstract: Most of the plasmas encountered in space and laboratory are weakly collisional or collisionless, in the sense that diffusion time scales at macroscopic spatial scales are too long to explain the fast energy release as well as heating observed during explosive events, such as flares, geomagnetic storms and disruptions in magnetic confinement devices. For this reason, understanding the dynamical formation of quasi-singular boundary layers, where dissipation is enhanced, is fundamental to understanding explosive energy release as well as plasma heating and control. Alfven wave resonance and forced reconnection are two processes by which such boundary layers can be generated in inhomogeneous plasmas. In this project, we investigate the driven, time dependent solution of the inhomogeneous, linear MHD equations. We approach this problem by adopting a unified theoretical and numerical framework. We show that Alfven wave resonance can transition to forced reconnection in the limit of zero frequency driver. In future works we will explore this transition for different boundary conditions, i.e. for non-monochromatic waves. We will also delve into the nonlinear regime and continue to explore the plasma dynamics in the presence of both Alfvén Waves and Magnetic Islands.