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Updated: May 21, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Influence of the lower-hybrid drift instability on magnetic reconnection in asymmetric configurations
V Roytershteyn1, W Daughton, H Karimabadi
1University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
Abstract:
Using fully kinetic 3D simulations of magnetic reconnection in asymmetric antiparallel configurations, we demonstrate that an electromagnetic lower-hybrid drift instability (LHDI) localized near the X line can substantially modify the reconnection mechanism in the regimes with large asymmetry, a moderate ratio of electron to ion temperature, and low plasma β. However, the mode saturates at a small amplitude in the regimes typical of Earth's magnetopause. In these cases, LHDI-driven turbulence is predominantly localized along the separatrices on the low-β side of the current sheet, in agreement with spacecraft observations.
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