Premium
The spherical tearing mode
Author(s) -
Hu S.,
Bhattacharjee A.,
Dorelli J.,
Greene J. M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl020977
Subject(s) - tearing , instability , physics , magnetopause
The spherical tearing mode is the three‐dimensional analog of the classical tearing mode in two dimensions. In three dimensions, loops of field lines connecting magnetic nulls play the role of separatrices. A numerical study of the tearing instability of a three‐dimensional analytic equilibrium containing a closed spherical tearing surface composed of null‐null lines is presented. A new fast tearing instability is identified. Implications of this model for global models of reconnection at the dayside magnetopause are discussed.