1,577 research outputs found
Phase mixing vs. nonlinear advection in drift-kinetic plasma turbulence
A scaling theory of long-wavelength electrostatic turbulence in a magnetised,
weakly collisional plasma (e.g., ITG turbulence) is proposed, with account
taken both of the nonlinear advection of the perturbed particle distribution by
fluctuating ExB flows and of its phase mixing, which is caused by the streaming
of the particles along the mean magnetic field and, in a linear problem, would
lead to Landau damping. It is found that it is possible to construct a
consistent theory in which very little free energy leaks into high velocity
moments of the distribution function, rendering the turbulent cascade in the
energetically relevant part of the wave-number space essentially fluid-like.
The velocity-space spectra of free energy expressed in terms of Hermite-moment
orders are steep power laws and so the free-energy content of the phase space
does not diverge at infinitesimal collisionality (while it does for a linear
problem); collisional heating due to long-wavelength perturbations vanishes in
this limit (also in contrast with the linear problem, in which it occurs at the
finite rate equal to the Landau-damping rate). The ability of the free energy
to stay in the low velocity moments of the distribution function is facilitated
by the "anti-phase-mixing" effect, whose presence in the nonlinear system is
due to the stochastic version of the plasma echo (the advecting velocity
couples the phase-mixing and anti-phase-mixing perturbations). The partitioning
of the wave-number space between the (energetically dominant) region where this
is the case and the region where linear phase mixing wins its competition with
nonlinear advection is governed by the "critical balance" between linear and
nonlinear timescales (which for high Hermite moments splits into two
thresholds, one demarcating the wave-number region where phase mixing
predominates, the other where plasma echo does).Comment: 45 pages (single-column), 3 figures, replaced with version published
in JP
Freely decaying turbulence in two-dimensional electrostatic gyrokinetics
In magnetized plasmas, a turbulent cascade occurs in phase space at scales
smaller than the thermal Larmor radius ("sub-Larmor scales") [Phys. Rev. Lett.
103, 015003 (2009)]. When the turbulence is restricted to two spatial
dimensions perpendicular to the background magnetic field, two independent
cascades may take place simultaneously because of the presence of two
collisionless invariants. In the present work, freely decaying turbulence of
two-dimensional electrostatic gyrokinetics is investigated by means of
phenomenological theory and direct numerical simulations. A dual cascade
(forward and inverse cascades) is observed in velocity space as well as in
position space, which we diagnose by means of nonlinear transfer functions for
the collisionless invariants. We find that the turbulence tends to a
time-asymptotic state, dominated by a single scale that grows in time. A theory
of this asymptotic state is derived in the form of decay laws. Each case that
we study falls into one of three regimes (weakly collisional, marginal, and
strongly collisional), determined by a dimensionless number D*, a quantity
analogous to the Reynolds number. The marginal state is marked by a critical
number D* = D0 that is preserved in time. Turbulence initialized above this
value become increasingly inertial in time, evolving toward larger and larger
D*; turbulence initialized below D0 become more and more collisional, decaying
to progressively smaller D*.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures; replaced to match published versio
Kinetic Simulations of Magnetized Turbulence in Astrophysical Plasmas
This letter presents the first ab initio, fully electromagnetic, kinetic
simulations of magnetized turbulence in a homogeneous, weakly collisional
plasma at the scale of the ion Larmor radius (ion gyroscale). Magnetic and
electric-field energy spectra show a break at the ion gyroscale; the spectral
slopes are consistent with scaling predictions for critically balanced
turbulence of Alfven waves above the ion gyroscale (spectral index -5/3) and of
kinetic Alfven waves below the ion gyroscale (spectral indices of -7/3 for
magnetic and -1/3 for electric fluctuations). This behavior is also
qualitatively consistent with in situ measurements of turbulence in the solar
wind. Our findings support the hypothesis that the frequencies of turbulent
fluctuations in the solar wind remain well below the ion cyclotron frequency
both above and below the ion gyroscale.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Resolving velocity space dynamics in continuum gyrokinetics
Many plasmas of interest to the astrophysical and fusion communities are
weakly collisional. In such plasmas, small scales can develop in the
distribution of particle velocities, potentially affecting observable
quantities such as turbulent fluxes. Consequently, it is necessary to monitor
velocity space resolution in gyrokinetic simulations. In this paper, we present
a set of computationally efficient diagnostics for measuring velocity space
resolution in gyrokinetic simulations and apply them to a range of plasma
physics phenomena using the continuum gyrokinetic code GS2. For the cases
considered here, it is found that the use of a collisionality at or below
experimental values allows for the resolution of plasma dynamics with
relatively few velocity space grid points. Additionally, we describe
implementation of an adaptive collision frequency which can be used to improve
velocity space resolution in the collisionless regime, where results are
expected to be independent of collision frequency.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Phys. Plasma
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