A radiating one-dimensional current sheet configuration

Abstract

The structure of the x-independent (one-dimensional) forced current sheet including a self consistent By component is investigated for the case of small normal field component, Bz/B0 much less than 1. A hybrid (kinetic ions, massless fluid electrons) simulation model is used to demonstrate that such a current sheet has a time-dependent structure which radiates incompressible Alfven waves with amplitude of the order of the asymptotic (lobe) field strength B0. The central density enhancement acts as the source of a propagating wavetrain in which Bx rotates into By and back again. One of the characteristic signatures of the radiating current sheet is the presence of a reversal in Bx (or By) without a corresponding increase in density.