Self-sustaining sound in collisionless, high-β plasma

Kunz, M. W.; Squire, J.; Schekochihin, A. A.; Quataert, E.

doi:10.1017/s0022377820001312

Title: Self-sustaining sound in collisionless, high-β plasma

Journal Article · Mon Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Journal of Plasma Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022377820001312· OSTI ID:1814567

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^[3]; Quataert, E. ^[4]

Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Univ. of Otago, Dunedin (New Zealand)
Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom); Merton College, Oxford (United Kingdom)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Using analytical theory and hybrid-kinetic numerical simulations, we demonstrate that, in a collisionless plasma, long-wavelength ion-acoustic waves (IAWs) with amplitudes $$δn/n_0≳2/β$$ (where $$β\gg1$$ is the ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure) generate sufficient pressure anisotropy to destabilize the plasma to firehose and mirror instabilities. These kinetic instabilities grow rapidly to reduce the pressure anisotropy by pitch-angle scattering and trapping particles, respectively, thereby impeding the maintenance of Landau resonances that enable such waves’ otherwise potent collisionless damping. The result is wave dynamics that evince a weakly collisional plasma: the ion distribution function is near-Maxwellian, the field-parallel flow of heat resembles its Braginskii form (except in regions where large-amplitude magnetic mirrors strongly suppress particle transport), and the relations between various thermodynamic quantities are more ‘fluid-like’ than kinetic. A nonlinear fluctuation–dissipation relation for self-sustaining IAWs is obtained by solving a plasma-kinetic Langevin problem, which demonstrates suppressed damping, enhanced fluctuation levels and weakly collisional thermodynamics when IAWs with $$δn/n_0≳2/β$$ are stochastically driven. We investigate how our results depend upon the scale separation between the wavelength of the IAW and the Larmor radius of the ions, and discuss briefly their implications for our understanding of turbulence and transport in the solar wind and the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters.

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Research Organization:: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); UK STFC; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0019046; SC0019047; NNX16AK09G; UOO1727; ST/N0009/9/1; EP/M022331/1; EP/R034737/1; TG-AST130058; OCI-1053575

OSTI ID:: 1814567

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1984384

Journal Information:: Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 86, Issue 6; ISSN 0022-3778

Publisher:: Cambridge University PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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