A fundamental understanding of the unstable eigenmodes of double tearing instabilities in a shear slab geometry

Two types of unstable eigenmodes of resistive tearing instabilities, namely, symmetric and anti-symmetric modes, in a double current sheet configuration are analyzed by means of both an eigenvalue solver and initial value simulation. It has been clearly identified that these two types of eigenmodes are different from the two independent single tearing modes even though the symmetric eigenmode in a double current sheet configuration shares the same properties of the single tearing mode near each current sheet. In the case with finite separation Δx between two current sheets, an arbitrary phase disturbance between two current sheets can lead to “phase instability,” i.e., the transition from the symmetric mode to the anti-symmetric mode. For a large Δx limit, both anti-symmetric and symmetric modes share the same properties of the single tearing mode. Thus, the superposition of two independent single tearing modes with arbitrary phases and arbitrary amplitudes at two current sheets can become the linear combination of symmetric and anti-symmetric eigenmodes. The same growth rate/eigenvalue of symmetric and anti-symmetric eigenmodes infers that an arbitrary superposition of two independent single tearing modes is still the eigenmode of the double current sheet configuration.