Magnetic field generation by the Weibel instability at temperature gradients in collisionless plasmas

Abstract

The Weibel instability could be responsible for the generation of magnetic fields in various objects such as gamma-ray bursts, jets from active galactic nuclei, and clusters of galaxies. Using numerical simulations, the development of the Weibel instability at a temperature gradient is studied. It is found that current sheets are first generated at the gradient, and then they are rounded off and turn into current filaments. During this process, return currents are generated around the filaments and they prevent filaments from merger. The magnetic fields around the filaments persist at least until t~8000/ω_p, where ω_p is the plasma frequency, and it is very likely that they survive for a much longer time.

Physics of Plasmas in press