Intermittency and Dissipative Structures Arising from Relativistic Magnetized Turbulence

Journal Article · Tue Mar 12 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · The Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad284c· OSTI ID:2323352

Davis, Zachary ; Comisso, Luca ; Giannios, Dimitrios

Abstract Kinetic simulations of relativistic turbulence have significantly advanced our understanding of turbulent particle acceleration. Recent progress has highlighted the need for an updated acceleration theory that can account for particle acceleration within the plasma’s coherent structures. Here, we investigate how intermittency modeling connects statistical fluctuations in turbulence to regions of high-energy dissipation. This connection is established by employing a generalized She–Leveque model to characterize the exponents ζ _p for the structure functions $S^p\propto l^{{\zeta }_p}$ . The fitting of the scaling exponents provides us with a measure of the codimension of the dissipative structures, for which we subsequently determine the filling fraction. We perform our analysis for a range of magnetizations σ and relative fluctuation amplitudes δ B ₀ / B ₀ . We find that increasing values of σ and δ B ₀ / B ₀ allow the turbulent cascade to break sheetlike structures into smaller regions of dissipation that resemble chains of flux ropes. However, as their dissipation measure increases, the dissipative regions become less volume filling. With this work, we aim to inform future turbulent acceleration theories that incorporate particle energization from interactions with coherent structures within relativistic turbulence.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 2323352
• Journal Information: The Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal Vol. 964 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 0004-637X
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English