Instability at interface between reconnection jet and pre-existing plasma sheet Original Research Article

When a reconnection jet encounters a pre-existing plasma sheet standing ahead of it, the interface between the two where both plasma and magnetic field are compressed becomes unstable and develops a bubble-like structure. We have conducted three-dimensional hybrid simulations (ions as particles and electrons as massless charge neutralizing fluid) of this instability. We suggest that this instability generates a variety of plasma flows and field configurations which may have relevance to some magnetospheric phenomena.