The lower-hybrid drift instability during the evolution of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability

Abstract

Abstract The lower-hybrid drift instability (LHDI) is a pivotal phenomenon in astrophysics, playing a critical role in energy transfer, macroscopic structures, and evolutionary processes between the magnetosheath and magnetosphere. Using 2D two-fluids numerical simulation, we investigate the spatiotemporal distribution of LHDI during the evolution of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI) at Earth’s dusk-flank magnetopause. The numerical simulation results show that, during the linear phase of KHI, the LHDI, whose duration time is approximately Δt 1 ∼ 10t A , appears around the high-density arms. During the nonlinear phase of KHI, the LHDI appears around the KH vortexes, with a duration of about Δt 2 ∼ 5t A . The LHDI disappears with the decay of KH vortex.