Relativistic Sweet–Parker Current Sheet and Its Macroscopic Evolution

Abstract

The problem of the relativistic Sweet-Parker current sheet is investigated, incorporating the effects of resistivity and thermal inertia. The scaling laws of the steady-state current sheet are obtained, and generalizations are carried out to include pair processes. We study the macroscopic evolutions of the spontaneous current sheet, including thinning, stretching, and both at the same time, which are critical for understanding the processes in an evolving current sheet.