Local pulsed plasma heating and destruction of a current sheet
Kirii N. P., Markov V. S., Frank A. G.
The heating of the plasma ions of a current sheet is definitely not monotonic. The rate at which the ion thermal energy increases may be an order of magnitude greater than the average rate of Joule heating over the sheet thickness. The plasma heating is associated with the formation of a magnetic island at the center of the sheet. A scenario of a rapid destruction of the sheet after a comparatively lengthy metastable stage of the evolution is outlined.