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Updated: Oct 16, 2025

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Weibel instability beyond bi-Maxwellian anisotropy
T Silva1, B Afeyan2, L O Silva1
1GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal.
Abstract:
The shape of the anisotropic velocity distribution function, beyond the realm of strict Maxwellians can play a significant role in determining the evolution of the Weibel instability dictating the dynamics of self-generated magnetic fields. For non-Maxwellian distribution functions, we show that the direction of the maximum growth rate wave vector changes with shape. We investigate different laser-plasma interaction model distributions which show that their Weibel generated magnetic fields may require closer scrutiny beyond the second moment (temperature) anisotropy ratio characterization.
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