Tearing and Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities in the Heliospheric Plasma

We analyze the magnetohydrodynamic instabilities arising from an initial equilibrium configuration consisting of a plasma jet or wake in presence of a magnetic field with strong transverse gradients, such as those arising in the solar wind, using 2.5D simulations. Our analysis extends previous results by considering both a force-free equilibrium and a pressure balance condition for a jet in a plasma sheet, and arbitrary angles between the magnetic field and velocity field. The presence of a magnetic field component aligned with the jet/wake destroys the symmetric nature of the fastest growing modes, leading to asymmetrical wake acceleration. Fully 3D simulations are necessary to explore the full dynamics of the instabilities in the generic case.