{{Short description|Plasma instability}} {{Cleanup rewrite|date=August 2024}} In plasma physics, a '''tearing mode''' is a plasma instability characterized by field line reconnection and the formation of magnetic islands.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TEARING MODE DYNAMICS IN TOKAMAK PLASMAS |url=https://farside.ph.utexas.edu/EPEC-documentation/epec.html |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=farside.ph.utexas.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zohm |first=Hartmut |title=Magnetohydrodynamic Stability of Tokamaks |publisher=Wiley-VCH |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-527-41232-7 |pages=123–157}}</ref> With islands emerging in the plasma, particles and heat can move from regions that were originally disconnected. Pressure and current density profiles are flattened, causing disruptions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zohm |first=Hartmut |title=Magnetohydrodynamic Stability of Tokamks |publisher=Wiley-VCH |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-527-41232-7 |pages=159–173}}</ref> The typical timescale for the growth of a tearing mode is on the order of 100 nanoseconds.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Seo |first1=Jaemin |last2=Kim |first2=SangKyeun |last3=Jalalvand |first3=Azarakhsh |last4=Conlin |first4=Rory |last5=Rothstein |first5=Andrew |last6=Abbate |first6=Joseph |last7=Erickson |first7=Keith |last8=Wai |first8=Josiah |last9=Shousha |first9=Ricardo |last10=Kolemen |first10=Egemen |date=February 2024 |title=Avoiding fusion plasma tearing instability with deep reinforcement learning |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=626 |issue=8000 |pages=746–751 |doi=10.1038/s41586-024-07024-9 |pmid=38383624 |bibcode=2024Natur.626..746S |issn=1476-4687|pmc=10881383 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shi |first1=Chen |last2=Velli |first2=Marco |last3=Pucci |first3=Fulvia |last4=Tenerani |first4=Anna |last5=Innocenti |first5=Maria Elena |date=2020-10-01 |title=Oblique tearing mode instability: guide field and Hall effect |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=902 |issue=2 |page=142 |doi=10.3847/1538-4357/abb6fa |doi-access=free |arxiv=2007.00607 |bibcode=2020ApJ...902..142S |issn=0004-637X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Tearing mode | journal=The Physics of Fluids | date=March 1988 | volume=31 | issue=3 | pages=577–590 | doi=10.1063/1.866840 |url=https://pubs.aip.org/aip/pfl/article-abstract/31/3/577/903632/Tearing-modes-in-toroidal-geometry?redirectedFrom=fulltext | last1=Connor | first1=J. W. | last2=Cowley | first2=S. C. | last3=Hastie | first3=R. J. | last4=Hender | first4=T. C. | last5=Hood | first5=A. | last6=Martin | first6=T. J. | url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Types ==
* Rayleigh–Taylor instability * Magnetic reconnection * Ballooning instability * Resistive ballooning mode * Universal instability * Kelvin–Helmholtz instability * Disruption instability <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Galishnikova |first1=Alisa K. |last2=Kunz |first2=Matthew W. |last3=Schekochihin |first3=Alexander A. |date=2022-12-09 |title=Tearing Instability and Current-Sheet Disruption in the Turbulent Dynamo |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevX.12.041027 |journal=Physical Review X |volume=12 |issue=4 |article-number=041027 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevX.12.041027|arxiv=2201.07757 |bibcode=2022PhRvX..12d1027G }}</ref> * Edge-localized mode * Transport barrier mode
== References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Plasma instabilities Category:Stability theory