title: Large scale instabilities in two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics
abstract: The stability of a sheared magnetic field is analyzed in two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics with resistive and viscous dissipation. Using a multiple-scale analysis, it is shown that at large enough Reynolds numbers the basic state describing a motionless fluid and a layered magnetic field, becomes unstable with respect to large scale perturbations. The exact expressions for eddy-viscosity and eddy-resistivity are derived in the nearby of the critical point where the instability sets in. In this marginally unstable case the nonlinear phase of perturbation growth obeys to a Cahn-Hilliard-like dynamics characterized by coalescence of magnetic islands leading to a final new equilibrium state. High resolution numerical simulations confirm quantitatively the predictions of multiscale analysis.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica Generale, Universita di Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, ItalyINFM, Unita di Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boffetta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Celani
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prandi