Magnetic Vortex Chains and Tearing Instability
In this work, we study magnetic vortex chains using the classical cat’s-eyes equilibrium as an analytical model for magnetic islands. The objective is to understand how equilibrium electron temperature anisotropy affects the structure and linear stability of these configurations in the presence of a strong guide field. Cat’s-eyes equilibrium used as a model for magnetic vortex chains and magnetic islands.Using reduced gyrofluid models and Energy-Casimir methods, this work derives stability conditions for classes of magnetic vortex chains and identifies how anisotropy, flow, and equilibrium geometry constrain their stability. In the strong-guide-field regime, electron temperature anisotropy enters the equilibrium and stability conditions directly, while finite-\(\beta\) and electron-scale effects modify the linear tearing response.These studies provide an analytical framework for magnetic-island equilibria in collisionless plasmas and for the role of anisotropy in small-scale reconnection dynamics.
