scholarly journals Adaptive Critical Balance and Firehose Instability in an Expanding, Turbulent, Collisionless Plasma

2021 ◽  
Vol 922 (2) ◽  
pp. L35
Author(s):  
A. F. A. Bott ◽  
L. Arzamasskiy ◽  
M. W. Kunz ◽  
E. Quataert ◽  
J. Squire
Keyword(s):  
Collisionless Plasma ◽  
Residual Energy ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Magnetized Plasma ◽  
Marginal Stability ◽  
Anomalous Scattering ◽  
Magnetic Fluctuations ◽  
Temperature Anisotropy ◽  
Ion Distribution ◽  
Spatial Anisotropy

Abstract Using a hybrid-kinetic particle-in-cell simulation, we study the evolution of an expanding, collisionless, magnetized plasma in which strong Alfvénic turbulence is persistently driven. Temperature anisotropy generated adiabatically by the plasma expansion (and consequent decrease in the mean magnetic-field strength) gradually reduces the effective elasticity of the field lines, causing reductions in the linear frequency and residual energy of the Alfvénic fluctuations. In response, these fluctuations modify their interactions and spatial anisotropy to maintain a scale-by-scale “critical balance” between their characteristic linear and nonlinear frequencies. Eventually the plasma becomes unstable to kinetic firehose instabilities, which excite rapidly growing magnetic fluctuations at ion-Larmor scales. The consequent pitch-angle scattering of particles maintains the temperature anisotropy near marginal stability, even as the turbulent plasma continues to expand. The resulting evolution of parallel and perpendicular temperatures does not satisfy double-adiabatic conservation laws, but is described accurately by a simple model that includes anomalous scattering. Our results have implications for understanding the complex interplay between macro- and microscale physics in various hot, dilute, astrophysical plasmas, and offer predictions concerning power spectra, residual energy, ion-Larmor-scale spectral breaks, and non-Maxwellian features in ion distribution functions that may be tested by measurements taken in high-beta regions of the solar wind.

The hot hELicon eXperiment (HELIX) and the large experiment on instabilities and anisotropy (LEIA)

2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. E. Scime ◽  
P. A. Keiter ◽  
M. M. Balkey ◽  
J. L. Kline ◽  
X. Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Double Layer ◽  
Noble Gas ◽  
Velocity Distribution Function ◽  
Plasma Source ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Double Layers ◽  
Driving Frequency ◽  
Ion Temperature ◽  
Temperature Anisotropy ◽  
Ion Distribution

The West Virginia University Hot hELIcon eXperiment (HELIX) provides variable density and ion temperature plasmas, with controllable levels of thermal anisotropy, for space relevant laboratory experiments in the Large Experiment on Instabilities and Anisotropy (LEIA) as well as fundamental studies of helicon source physics in HELIX. Through auxiliary ion heating, the ion temperature anisotropy (T⊥/T∥) is variable from 1 to 20 for parallel plasma beta (β = 8πnkTi∥/B2) values that span the range of 0.0001 to 0.01 in LEIA. The ion velocity distribution function is measured throughout the discharge volume in steady-state and pulsed plasmas with laser induced fluorescence (LIF). The wavelengths of very short wavelength electrostatic fluctuations are measured with a coherent microwave scattering system. Operating at low neutral pressures triggers spontaneous formation of a current-free electric double layer. Ion acceleration through the double layer is detected through LIF. LIF-based velocity space tomography of the accelerated beam provides a two-dimensional mapping of the bulk and beam ion distribution functions. The driving frequency for the m = 1 helical antenna is continuously variable from 8.5 to 16 MHz and frequency dependent variations of the RF coupling to the plasma allow the spontaneously appearing double layers to be turned on and off without modifying the plasma collisionality or magnetic field geometry. Single and multi-species plasmas are created with argon, helium, nitrogen, krypton, and xenon. The noble gas plasmas have steep neutral density gradients, with ionization levels reaching 100% in the core of the plasma source. The large plasma density in the source enables the study of Aflvén waves in the HELIX device.

Analysis of Alfvénic flows with Solar Orbiter: particle and magnetic observations down to kinetic scales.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Louarn ◽  
Andrei fedorov ◽  
alexis Rouillard ◽  
Benoit Lavraud ◽  
Vincent Génot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Time Resolution ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Residual Energy ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Temperature Anisotropy ◽  
Velocity Fluctuations ◽  
Turbulence Parameters

<p>The magnetic and velocity fluctuations of the solar wind may be strongly correlated. This characterizes the  ‘Alfvenic’ flows. Using the observations of the Proton Alfa sensor (PAS/SWA) and the magnetometer (MAG) onboard Solar Orbiter, we analyze a period of 100 hours of such alfvenic flows, at different scales. Several parameters of the turbulence are computed (V-B correlation, various spectral indexes, cross-helicity, residual energy). We explore how these parameters may vary with time and characterize different turbulent states of the flow. More specifically, using the unprecedented time resolution of PAS during burst mode, especially its capability to measure 3D distribution functions at time scale below the proton gyroperiod, we study the connection of the turbulence to the dissipation domain and analyze the fine structure of the distribution functions and their evolutions at sub-second scales. The goal is to investigate whether some characteristics of the distributions, as their more or less pronounced temperature anisotropy, may be related to the turbulence parameters and the degree of V-B correlation.</p>

scholarly journals Dependence on ion temperature of shallow-angle magnetic presheaths with adiabatic electrons

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Geraldini ◽  
F. I. Parra ◽  
F. Militello
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Fluid Model ◽  
Boltzmann Distribution ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Magnetized Plasma ◽  
Electron Mass ◽  
Ion Temperature ◽  
Ion Distribution ◽  
Ionic Charge ◽  
The Magnetic Field

The magnetic presheath is a boundary layer occurring when magnetized plasma is in contact with a wall and the angle $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ between the wall and the magnetic field $\boldsymbol{B}$ is oblique. Here, we consider the fusion-relevant case of a shallow-angle, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\ll 1$ , electron-repelling sheath, with the electron density given by a Boltzmann distribution, valid for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}/\sqrt{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}+1}\gg \sqrt{m_{\text{e}}/m_{\text{i}}}$ , where $m_{\text{e}}$ is the electron mass, $m_{\text{i}}$ is the ion mass, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=T_{\text{i}}/ZT_{\text{e}}$ , $T_{\text{e}}$ is the electron temperature, $T_{\text{i}}$ is the ion temperature and $Z$ is the ionic charge state. The thickness of the magnetic presheath is of the order of a few ion sound Larmor radii $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{\text{s}}=\sqrt{m_{\text{i}}(ZT_{\text{e}}+T_{\text{i}})}/ZeB$ , where e is the proton charge and $B=|\boldsymbol{B}|$ is the magnitude of the magnetic field. We study the dependence on $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}$ of the electrostatic potential and ion distribution function in the magnetic presheath by using a set of prescribed ion distribution functions at the magnetic presheath entrance, parameterized by $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}$ . The kinetic model is shown to be asymptotically equivalent to Chodura’s fluid model at small ion temperature, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}\ll 1$ , for $|\text{ln}\,\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}|>3|\text{ln}\,\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}|\gg 1$ . In this limit, despite the fact that fluid equations give a reasonable approximation to the potential, ion gyro-orbits acquire a spatial extent that occupies a large portion of the magnetic presheath. At large ion temperature, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}\gg 1$ , relevant because $T_{\text{i}}$ is measured to be a few times larger than $T_{\text{e}}$ near divertor targets of fusion devices, ions reach the Debye sheath entrance (and subsequently the wall) at a shallow angle whose size is given by $\sqrt{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}$ or $1/\sqrt{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}$ , depending on which is largest.

scholarly journals Resolution dependence of magnetosheath waves in global hybrid-Vlasov simulations

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 1283-1298
Author(s):  
Maxime Dubart ◽  
Urs Ganse ◽  
Adnane Osmane ◽  
Andreas Johlander ◽  
Markus Battarbee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Velocity Distribution ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Marginal Stability ◽  
Temperature Anisotropy ◽  
Cyclotron Instability ◽  
Velocity Distribution Functions ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Proton Cyclotron

Abstract. Kinetically driven plasma waves are fundamental for a description of the thermodynamical properties of the Earth's magnetosheath. The most commonly observed ion-scale instabilities are generated by temperature anisotropy of the ions, such as the mirror and proton cyclotron instabilities. We investigate here the spatial resolution dependence of the mirror and proton cyclotron instabilities in a global hybrid-Vlasov simulation using the Vlasiator model; we do this in order to find optimal resolutions and help future global hybrid-Vlasov simulations to save resources when investigating those instabilities in the magnetosheath. We compare the proton velocity distribution functions, power spectra and growth rates of the instabilities in a set of simulations with three different spatial resolutions but otherwise identical set-up. We find that the proton cyclotron instability is absent at the lowest resolution and that only the mirror instability remains, which leads to an increased temperature anisotropy in the simulation. We conclude that the proton cyclotron instability, its saturation and the reduction of the anisotropy to marginal levels are resolved at the highest spatial resolution. A further increase in resolution does not lead to a better description of the instability to an extent that would justify this increase at the cost of numerical resources in future simulations. We also find that spatial resolutions between 1.32 and 2.64 times the inertial length in the solar wind present acceptable limits for the resolution within which the velocity distribution functions resulting from the proton cyclotron instability are still bi-Maxwellian and reach marginal stability levels. Our results allow us to determine a range of spatial resolutions suitable for the modelling of the proton cyclotron and mirror instabilities and should be taken into consideration regarding the optimal grid spacing for the modelling of these two instabilities, within available computational resources.

Density and magnetic field fluctuations observed by ISEE 1-2 in the quiet magnetosheath

1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Lacombe ◽  
G. Belmont ◽  
D. Hubert ◽  
C. C. Harvey ◽  
A. Mangeney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Phase Relation ◽  
Dynamic Pressure ◽  
Density Fluctuations ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Linear Wave ◽  
Magnetic Fluctuations ◽  
Ion Distribution ◽  
Maxwellian Plasma ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Abstract. We analyse the fluctuations of the electron density and of the magnetic field in the Earth's magnetosheath to identify the waves observed below the proton gyrofrequency. We consider two quiet magnetosheath crossings i.e. 2 days characterized by small-amplitude waves, for which the solar wind dynamic pressure was low. On 2 August 1978 the spacecraft were in the outer magnetosheath. We compare the properties of the observed narrow-band waves with those of the unstable linear wave modes calculated for an homogeneous plasma with Maxwellian electron and bi-Maxwellian (anisotropic) proton and alpha particle distributions. The Alfvén ion cyclotron (AIC) mode appears to be dominant in the data, but there are also density fluctuations nearly in phase with the magnetic fluctuations parallel to the magnetic field. Such a phase relation can be explained neither by the presence of a proton or helium AIC mode nor by the presence of a fast mode in a bi-Maxwellian plasma. We invoke the presence of the helium cut-off mode which is marginally stable in a bi-Maxwellian plasma with α particles: the observed phase relation could be due to a hybrid mode (proton AIC+helium cut-off ) generated by a non-Maxwellian or a non-gyrotropic part of the ion distribution functions in the upstream magnetosheath. On 2 September 1981 the properties of the fluctuations observed in the middle of the magnetosheath can be explained by pure AIC waves generated by protons which have reached a bi-Maxwellian equilibrium. For a given wave mode, the phase difference between B\\Vert and the density is sensitive to the shape of the ion and electron distribution functions: it can be a diagnosis tool for natural and simulated plasmas.

scholarly journals General dispersion properties of magnetized plasmas with drifting bi-Kappa distributions. DIS-K: Dispersion Solver for Kappa Plasmas

2021 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
R.A. López ◽  
S.M. Shaaban ◽  
M. Lazar
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Role ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Magnetized Plasma ◽  
Unstable Wave ◽  
Space Plasmas ◽  
Good Representation ◽  
Particle Interactions ◽  
Particle Collisions ◽  
Dispersion Tensor

Space plasmas are known to be out of (local) thermodynamic equilibrium, as observations show direct or indirect evidences of non-thermal velocity distributions of plasma particles. Prominent are the anisotropies relative to the magnetic field, anisotropic temperatures, field-aligned beams or drifting populations, but also, the suprathermal populations enhancing the high-energy tails of the observed distributions. Drifting bi-Kappa distribution functions can provide a good representation of these features and enable for a kinetic fundamental description of the dispersion and stability of these collision-poor plasmas, where particle–particle collisions are rare but wave–particle interactions appear to play a dominant role in the dynamics. In the present paper we derive the full set of components of the dispersion tensor for magnetized plasma populations modelled by drifting bi-Kappa distributions. A new solver called DIS-K (DIspersion Solver for Kappa plasmas) is proposed to solve numerically the dispersion relations of high complexity. The solver is validated by comparing with the damped and unstable wave solutions obtained with other codes, operating in the limits of drifting Maxwellian and non-drifting Kappa models. These new theoretical tools enable more realistic characterizations, both analytical and numerical, of wave fluctuations and instabilities in complex kinetic configurations measured in-situ in space plasmas.

Intercomponent Momentum Transport and Electrical Conductivity of Collisionless Plasma

1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (24) ◽  
pp. 2604-2611 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Wilhelm
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Conductivity ◽  
Electric Field ◽  
Collisionless Plasma ◽  
Electrical Current ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Momentum Transport ◽  
Ion Drift ◽  
Moment Approximation ◽  
Electrons And Ions ◽  
Two Component

Based on the Lenard–Balescu equation, the interaction integral for the intercomponent momentum transfer in a two-component, collisionless plasma is evaluated in closed form. The distribution functions of the electrons and ions are represented in the form of nonisothermal, displaced Max wellians corresponding to the 5-moment approximation. As an application, the transport of electrical current in an electric field is discussed for infrasonic up to sonic electron–ion drift velocities.

Analytical solutions for oblique wave growth from a ring-beam distribution

1988 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard M. Thorne ◽  
Danny Summers
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Solutions ◽  
Plasma Waves ◽  
Magnetized Plasma ◽  
Linear Growth Rate ◽  
Marginal Stability ◽  
Closed Form Solutions ◽  
Resonant Interactions ◽  
Interstellar Material ◽  
Unstable Plasma ◽  
Transverse Propagation

Analytical solutions are presented for the linear growth rate of oblique plasma waves in a magnetized plasma due to resonant interactions with a model ringbeam distribution. Explicit closed-form solutions for the angular dependence are obtained in terms of modified Bessel functions of the first kind. In the limits of either quasi-longitudinal or quasi-transverse propagation the analytical solutions take the form of simple algebraic expansions, which allow an immediate comparison of the relative contributions from different harmonic resonances, and which also determine the conditions for marginal stability for any specific resonance. The results can be applied, for instance, to the growth of waves following ionization of neutrals originating from cometary, planetary, or interstellar material in the solar wind. In a weakly unstable plasma the analytical results also provide an important check on the complex numerical codes that hitherto constituted the only method available for evaluating the growth of oblique plasma waves.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document