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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Plasma instabilities in an anisotropically expanding geometry.
Paul Romatschke1, Anton Rebhan
1Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany.
We simulated relativistic plasma instabilities in expanding geometries relevant to heavy-ion collisions. Our findings reveal a delayed onset of these instabilities, even in anisotropic conditions, impacting the color-glass condensate.
Area of Science:
- Nuclear Physics
- High-Energy Physics
- Plasma Physics
Background:
- Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions create extreme states of matter.
- Understanding the evolution of relativistic plasma is crucial for interpreting collision data.
- The color-glass condensate is a theoretical framework describing the state of matter in such collisions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the dynamics of relativistic plasma instabilities in a (3+1)D expanding geometry.
- To simulate the evolution of these instabilities using lattice-based methods.
- To analytically derive the late-time behavior of plasma instabilities.
Main Methods:
- Solving (3+1)D kinetic (Boltzmann-Vlasov) equations for relativistic plasma particles.
- Employing local equations in terms of Yang-Mills potentials and auxiliary fields.
- Performing numerical simulations on a lattice for hard- (expanding-) loop dynamics.
- Deriving analytical solutions for the late-time behavior of instabilities.
Main Results:
- Numerical determination of plasma instability evolution in the linear (Abelian) regime.
- Analytical derivation of late-time instability behavior, consistent with melting color-glass condensate simulations.
- Observation of a significant delay in the onset of plasma instabilities triggered by rapidity fluctuations.
- Instability onset delay observed even in highly anisotropic initial states.
Conclusions:
- The study provides insights into the dynamics of relativistic plasma instabilities in expanding systems.
- Numerical and analytical results confirm theoretical predictions regarding the color-glass condensate.
- A notable delay in instability growth is a key characteristic of these systems, even under anisotropy.

