238 research outputs found
Gyrokinetic and kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of guide-field reconnection. I: Macroscopic effects of the electron flows
In this work, we compare gyrokinetic (GK) and fully kinetic Particle-in-Cell
(PIC) simulations of magnetic reconnection in the limit of strong guide field.
In particular, we analyze the limits of applicability of the GK plasma model
compared to a fully kinetic description of force free current sheets for finite
guide fields (). Here we report the first part of an extended comparison,
focusing on the macroscopic effects of the electron flows. For a low beta
plasma (), it is shown that both plasma models develop magnetic
reconnection with similar features in the secondary magnetic islands if a
sufficiently high guide field () is imposed in the kinetic PIC
simulations. Outside of these regions, in the separatrices close to the X
points, the convergence between both plasma descriptions is less restrictive
(). Kinetic PIC simulations using guide fields
reveal secondary magnetic islands with a core magnetic field and less energetic
flows inside of them in comparison to the GK or kinetic PIC runs with stronger
guide fields. We find that these processes are mostly due to an initial shear
flow absent in the GK initialization and negligible in the kinetic PIC high
guide field regime, in addition to fast outflows on the order of the ion
thermal speed that violate the GK ordering. Since secondary magnetic islands
appear after the reconnection peak time, a kinetic PIC/GK comparison is more
accurate in the linear phase of magnetic reconnection. For a high beta plasma
() where reconnection rates and fluctuations levels are reduced,
similar processes happen in the secondary magnetic islands in the fully kinetic
description, but requiring much lower guide fields ().Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures. Revised to match with the published version in
Physics of Plasma
Subproton-scale cascades in solar wind turbulence: driven hybrid-kinetic simulations
A long-lasting debate in space plasma physics concerns the nature of
subproton-scale fluctuations in solar wind (SW) turbulence. Over the past
decade, a series of theoretical and observational studies were presented in
favor of either kinetic Alfv\'en wave (KAW) or whistler turbulence. Here, we
investigate numerically the nature of the subproton-scale turbulent cascade for
typical SW parameters by means of unprecedented high-resolution simulations of
forced hybrid-kinetic turbulence in two real-space and three velocity-space
dimensions. Our analysis suggests that small-scale turbulence in this model is
dominated by KAWs at and by magnetosonic/whistler fluctuations
at lower . The spectral properties of the turbulence appear to be in
good agreement with theoretical predictions. A tentative interpretation of this
result in terms of relative changes in the damping rates of the different waves
is also presented. Overall, the results raise interesting new questions about
the properties and variability of subproton-scale turbulence in the SW,
including its possible dependence on the plasma , and call for detailed
and extensive parametric explorations of driven kinetic turbulence in three
dimensions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal Letter
Multiscale nature of the dissipation range in gyrokinetic simulations of Alfv\'enic turbulence
Nonlinear energy transfer and dissipation in Alfv\'en wave turbulence are
analyzed in the first gyrokinetic simulation spanning all scales from the tail
of the MHD range to the electron gyroradius scale. For typical solar wind
parameters at 1 AU, about 30% of the nonlinear energy transfer close to the
electron gyroradius scale is mediated by modes in the tail of the MHD cascade.
Collisional dissipation occurs across the entire kinetic range
. Both mechanisms thus act on multiple coupled scales,
which have to be retained for a comprehensive picture of the dissipation range
in Alfv\'enic turbulence.Comment: Made several improvements to figures and text suggested by referee
Collision-dependent power law scalings in 2D gyrokinetic turbulence
Nonlinear gyrokinetics provides a suitable framework to describe
short-wavelength turbulence in magnetized laboratory and astrophysical plasmas.
In the electrostatic limit, this system is known to exhibit a free energy
cascade towards small scales in (perpendicular) real and/or velocity space. The
dissipation of free energy is always due to collisions (no matter how weak the
collisionality), but may be spread out across a wide range of scales. Here, we
focus on freely-decaying 2D electrostatic turbulence on sub-ion-gyroradius
scales. An existing scaling theory for the turbulent cascade in the weakly
collisional limit is generalized to the moderately collisional regime. In this
context, non-universal power law scalings due to multiscale dissipation are
predicted, and this prediction is confirmed by means of direct numerical
simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Physics of Plasma
Gyrokinetic studies of core turbulence features in ASDEX Upgrade H-mode plasmas
Gyrokinetic validation studies are crucial in developing confidence in the
model incorporated in numerical simulations and thus improving their predictive
capabilities. As one step in this direction, we simulate an ASDEX Upgrade
discharge with the GENE code, and analyze various fluctuating quantities and
compare them to experimental measurements. The approach taken is the following.
First, linear simulations are performed in order to determine the turbulence
regime. Second, the heat fluxes in nonlinear simulations are matched to
experimental fluxes by varying the logarithmic ion temperature gradient within
the expected experimental error bars. Finally, the dependence of various
quantities with respect to the ion temperature gradient is analyzed in detail.
It is found that density and temperature fluctuations can vary significantly
with small changes in this parameter, thus making comparisons with experiments
very sensitive to uncertainties in the experimental profiles. However,
cross-phases are more robust, indicating that they are better observables for
comparisons between gyrokinetic simulations and experimental measurements
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