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Updated: Aug 18, 2025

A 100 KW Class Applied-field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster
Published on: December 22, 2018
Reconnection-driven energy cascade in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
Chuanfei Dong1,2, Liang Wang1,2, Yi-Min Huang1,2
1Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.
Abstract:
Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence regulates the transfer of energy from large to small scales in many astrophysical systems, including the solar atmosphere. We perform three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations with unprecedentedly large magnetic Reynolds number to reveal how rapid reconnection of magnetic field lines changes the classical paradigm of the turbulent energy cascade. By breaking elongated current sheets into chains of small magnetic flux ropes (or plasmoids), magnetic reconnection leads to a previously undiscovered range of energy cascade, where the rate of energy transfer is controlled by the growth rate of the plasmoids. As a consequence, the turbulent energy spectra steepen and attain a spectral index of -2.2 that is accompanied by changes in the anisotropy of turbulence eddies. The omnipresence of plasmoids and their consequences on, for example, solar coronal heating, can be further explored with current and future spacecraft and telescopes.
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