Fast Dissipation of Colliding Alfvén Waves in a Magnetically Dominated Plasma

Magnetic energy around compact objects often dominates over plasma rest mass, and its dissipation can power the object’s luminosity. We describe a dissipation mechanism that works faster than magnetic reconnection. The mechanism involves two strong Alfvén waves with anti-aligned magnetic fields B1 and B2 that propagate in opposite directions along the background magnetic field B0 and collide. The collision forms a thin current sheet perpendicular to B0, which absorbs the incoming waves. The current sheet is sustained by an electric field E breaking the magnetohydrodynamic condition E < B and accelerating particles to high energies. We demonstrate this mechanism with kinetic plasma simulations using a simple setup of two symmetric plane waves with amplitude A = B1/B0 = B2/B0 propagating in a uniform B0. The mechanism is activated when A > 1/2. It dissipates a large fraction of the wave energy, f = (2A - 1)/A2, reaching 100% when A = 1. The plane geometry allows one to see the dissipation process in a one-dimensional simulation. We also perform two-dimensional simulations, enabling spontaneous breaking of the plane symmetry by the tearing instability of the current sheet. At moderate A of main interest, the tearing instability is suppressed. Dissipation transitions to normal, slower, magnetic reconnection at A ≫ 1. The fast dissipation described in this paper may occur in various objects with perturbed magnetic fields, including magnetars, jets from accreting black holes, and pulsar wind nebulae.