Influence of Trapped Plasma on the Structure of Collisionless Thin Current Sheets

Abstract

Using both analytical and numerical models of the collisionless anisotropic current sheet generated by the impinging flows of transient ions, we have studied the self-consistent solutions taking the plasma trapped in the sheet into account. It is demonstrated that there exists a limited “window” in the space of system parameters where self-consistent solutions can exist. When the density of the quasi-trapped plasma is sufficiently large, a redistribution of the total current can be a cause of the sheet decay, when the local current of the trapped particles compensate (totally or in part) the main current in the center and at the edges of the sheet, while the total current generated by ions on the trapped trajectories vanishes.