Self-organization process of a magnetohydrodynamic plasma in the presence of thermal conduction

A self-organization process of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) plasma with a finite thermal conductivity is investigated by means of a three-dimensional MHD simulation. With no thermal conduction a MHD system self-organizes to a non-Taylor state in which the electric current perpendicular to the magnetic field remains comparable to the parallel electric current. In the presence of thermal conductivity, the perpendicular component of electric current and the nonuniformity of thermal pressure generated by driven reconnection tend to be smoothed. Thus, the self-organized state approaches to a force-free minimum energy state under the influence of thermal conduction. Detailed energy conversion processes are also studied to find that the rapid decay of magnetic energy during the self-organization process is caused not only through Ohmic heating, but also through the work done by the jxB force. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics