Relativistic tearing mode and plasmoid instability

Relativistic linear tearing mode instability in pair plasmas is investigated, and a dispersion relation is obtained including the effects of both resistivity and thermal-inertia. The dispersion relation is then further employed to study the evolution of the relativistic plasmoid instability. The basic properties of linearly unstable plasmoids, the dominant modes, and the number of plasmoids are investigated for both static and slow-evolving current sheets. The implications of the theory for relativistic tearing and plasmoid instabilities for astrophysical objects are discussed.