Studies of dynamic processes related to active experiments in space plasmas

This is the final report for grant NAGw-2055, 'Studies of Dynamic Processes Related to Active Experiments in Space Plasmas', covering research performed at the University of Michigan. The grant was awarded to study: (1) theoretical and data analysis of data from the CHARGE-2 rocket experiment (1keV; 1-46 mA electron beam ejections) and the Spacelab-2 shuttle experiment (1keV; 100 mA); (2) studies of the interaction of an electron beam, emitted from an ionospheric platform, with the ambient neutral atmosphere and plasma by means of a newly developed computer simulation model, relating model predictions with CHARGE-2 observations of return currents observed during electron beam emissions; and (3) development of a self-consistent model for the charge distribution on a moving conducting tether in a magnetized plasma and for the potential structure in the plasma surrounding the tether. Our main results include: (1) the computer code developed for the interaction of electrons beams with the neutral atmosphere and plasma is able to model observed return fluxes to the CHARGE-2 sounding rocket payload; and (2) a 3-D electromagnetic and relativistic particle simulation code was developed

Diffusion of a plasma subject to neutral beam injection

Two-dimensional numerical plasma simulations have been carried out in a uniform magnetic field to study the effects of neutral beam injection on plasma diffusion. Neutral beams injected across a magnetic field are assumed to be ionized by various ionization processes in a plasma. It is found that the suprathermal convective motion of a plasma generated by the injection of neutral beams is dissipated via anomalous viscosity, leading to enhanced cross-field diffusion. The diffusion coefficient depends weakly on the magnetic field and plasma density, similar to the diffusion due to thermally excited convective cells. The magnitude of the diffusion increases with the injection energy and is much larger than the thermal diffusion because of the presence of suprathermal plasma convection. It is shown that a similar anomalous plasma diffusion may occur in a plasma subject to radio frequency (RF) wave heating where only a localized region of plasma across a magnetic field is heated to a temperature much higher than the surrounding temperature. Theoretical investigations are given on the scaling of enhanced plasma diffusion