PROPERTIES OF THE TEARING MODE IN PERIODIC CURRENT SHEETS

The tearing mode in multiple periodic current sheet systems with a hyp erbolic tangent profile of magnetic shear has been investigated. It is found that the linear growth rate of the antisymmetric and symmetric mode tearing instability increases and decreases, respectively, with t he current sheet separation decreasing, which is similar to the situat ion with the step function profile of current density [A. Otto and G. T. Birk, Phys Fluids B 4, 3811 (1992)]. But, the results here also sho w that the linear growth rate of the antisymmetric mode tearing instab ility maximizes at certain current sheet separation. The linear growth of the tearing instability in multiple current sheet systems is not e nhanced as greatly as has usually been expected. (C) 1998 American Ins titute of Physics. [S1070-664X(98)00306-1]