The Alfvénic nature of energy transfer mediation in localized, strongly nonlinear Alfvén wavepacket collisions
Abstract
In space and astrophysical plasmas, violent events or instabilities inject energy into turbulent motions at large scales. Nonlinear interactions among the turbulent fluctuations drive a cascade of energy to small perpendicular scales at which the energy is ultimately converted into plasma heat. Previous work with the incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations has shown that this turbulent energy cascade is driven by the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfvén waves – also known as Alfvén wave collisions. Direct numerical simulations of weakly collisional plasma turbulence enables deeper insight into the nature of the nonlinear interactions underlying the turbulent cascade of energy. In this paper, we directly compare four cases: both periodic and localized Alfvén wave collisions in the weakly and strongly nonlinear limits. Our results reveal that in the more realistic case of localized Alfvén wave collisions (rather than the periodic case), all nonlinearly generated fluctuations are Alfvén waves, which mediates nonlinear energy transfer to smaller perpendicular scales.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1538934
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0014599
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Plasma Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 84; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3778
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- Physics
Citation Formats
Verniero, J. L., and Howes, G. G. The Alfvénic nature of energy transfer mediation in localized, strongly nonlinear Alfvén wavepacket collisions. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1017/s0022377818000090.
Verniero, J. L., & Howes, G. G. The Alfvénic nature of energy transfer mediation in localized, strongly nonlinear Alfvén wavepacket collisions. United States. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022377818000090
Verniero, J. L., and Howes, G. G. Tue .
"The Alfvénic nature of energy transfer mediation in localized, strongly nonlinear Alfvén wavepacket collisions". United States. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022377818000090.
@article{osti_1538934,
title = {The Alfvénic nature of energy transfer mediation in localized, strongly nonlinear Alfvén wavepacket collisions},
author = {Verniero, J. L. and Howes, G. G.},
abstractNote = {In space and astrophysical plasmas, violent events or instabilities inject energy into turbulent motions at large scales. Nonlinear interactions among the turbulent fluctuations drive a cascade of energy to small perpendicular scales at which the energy is ultimately converted into plasma heat. Previous work with the incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations has shown that this turbulent energy cascade is driven by the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfvén waves – also known as Alfvén wave collisions. Direct numerical simulations of weakly collisional plasma turbulence enables deeper insight into the nature of the nonlinear interactions underlying the turbulent cascade of energy. In this paper, we directly compare four cases: both periodic and localized Alfvén wave collisions in the weakly and strongly nonlinear limits. Our results reveal that in the more realistic case of localized Alfvén wave collisions (rather than the periodic case), all nonlinearly generated fluctuations are Alfvén waves, which mediates nonlinear energy transfer to smaller perpendicular scales.},
doi = {10.1017/s0022377818000090},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1538934},
journal = {Journal of Plasma Physics},
issn = {0022-3778},
number = 1,
volume = 84,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {1}
}
Works referenced in this record:
No Evidence for Heating of the Solar wind at Strong Current Sheets
journal, September 2011
- Borovsky, Joseph E.; Denton, Michael H.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 739, Issue 2
Linearized model Fokker–Planck collision operators for gyrokinetic simulations. II. Numerical implementation and tests
journal, July 2009
- Barnes, M.; Abel, I. G.; Dorland, W.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 7
A prospectus on kinetic heliophysics
journal, May 2017
- Howes, Gregory G.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 5
AstroGK: Astrophysical gyrokinetics code
journal, December 2010
- Numata, Ryusuke; Howes, Gregory G.; Tatsuno, Tomoya
- Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 229, Issue 24
Detection of Small-Scale Structures in the Dissipation Regime of Solar-Wind Turbulence
journal, November 2012
- Perri, S.; Goldstein, M. L.; Dorelli, J. C.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 19
Toward Astrophysical Turbulence in the Laboratory
journal, December 2012
- Howes, G. G.; Drake, D. J.; Nielson, K. D.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 25
Measuring Collisionless Damping in Heliospheric Plasmas Using Field–Particle Correlations
journal, July 2016
- Klein, K. G.; Howes, G. G.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 826, Issue 2
Alfvén wave collisions, the fundamental building block of plasma turbulence. IV. Laboratory experiment
journal, July 2013
- Drake, D. J.; Schroeder, J. W. R.; Howes, G. G.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 7
Magnetic Reconnection and Intermittent Turbulence in the Solar Wind
journal, May 2014
- Osman, K. T.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Gosling, J. T.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 21
Linearized model Fokker–Planck collision operators for gyrokinetic simulations. I. Theory
journal, December 2008
- Abel, I. G.; Barnes, M.; Cowley, S. C.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 15, Issue 12
Diagnosing collisionless energy transfer using field–particle correlations: gyrokinetic turbulence
journal, July 2017
- Klein, Kristopher G.; Howes, Gregory G.; TenBarge, Jason M.
- Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 4
Evidence for Inhomogeneous Heating in the Solar wind
journal, December 2010
- Osman, K. T.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Greco, A.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 727, Issue 1
Coherent structures, intermittent turbulence, and dissipation in high-temperature plasmas
journal, January 2013
- Karimabadi, H.; Roytershteyn, V.; Wan, M.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 1
Intermittency and Local Heating in the Solar Wind
journal, June 2012
- Osman, K. T.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Wan, M.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 26
A weak turbulence theory for incompressible magnetohydrodynamics
journal, June 2000
- Galtier, S.; Nazarenko, S. V.; Newell, A. C.
- Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 63, Issue 5
Current Sheets and Collisionless Damping in Kinetic Plasma Turbulence
journal, June 2013
- TenBarge, J. M.; Howes, G. G.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 771, Issue 2
Helical and Nonhelical Turbulent Dynamos
journal, October 1981
- Meneguzzi, M.; Frisch, U.; Pouquet, A.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 47, Issue 15
On Intermittent Turbulence Heating of the Solar Wind: Differences Between Tangential and Rotational Discontinuities
journal, July 2013
- Wang, Xin; Tu, Chuanyi; He, Jiansen
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 772, Issue 2
Measurements of the nonlinear beat wave produced by the interaction of counterpropagating Alfvén waves
journal, February 2016
- Drake, D. J.; Howes, G. G.; Rhudy, J. D.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 2
Nonlinear gyrokinetic equations for low-frequency electromagnetic waves in general plasma equilibria
journal, January 1982
- Frieman, E. A.
- Physics of Fluids, Vol. 25, Issue 3
Toward a theory of interstellar turbulence. 2: Strong alfvenic turbulence
journal, January 1995
- Goldreich, P.; Sridhar, S.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 438
The Dynamical Generation of Current Sheets in Astrophysical Plasma Turbulence
journal, August 2016
- Howes, Gregory G.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 827, Issue 2
The development of magnetic field line wander by plasma turbulence
journal, August 2017
- Howes, Gregory G.; Bourouaine, Sofiane
- Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 4
Astrophysical Gyrokinetics: Basic Equations and Linear Theory
journal, November 2006
- Howes, Gregory G.; Cowley, Steven C.; Dorland, William
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 651, Issue 1
Diagnosing collisionless energy transfer using field–particle correlations: Vlasov–Poisson plasmas
journal, January 2017
- Howes, Gregory G.; Klein, Kristopher G.; Li, Tak Chu
- Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 1
Spatially localized particle energization by Landau damping in current sheets produced by strong Alfvén wave collisions
journal, January 2018
- Howes, Gregory G.; McCubbin, Andrew J.; Klein, Kristopher G.
- Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 84, Issue 1
Inertial-Range Spectrum of Hydromagnetic Turbulence
journal, January 1965
- Kraichnan, Robert H.
- Physics of Fluids, Vol. 8, Issue 7
Selective Decay Hypothesis at high Mechanical and Magnetic Reynolds Numbers*
journal, December 1980
- Matthaeus, William H.; Montgomery, David
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 357, Issue 1
Anisotropic Modal Energy Transfer in Interstellar Turbulence
journal, July 1995
- Montgomery, David; Matthaeus, William H.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 447
Interaction of Shear-Alfven Wave Packets: Implication for Weak Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence in Astrophysical Plasmas
journal, July 1996
- Ng, C. S.; Bhattacharjee, A.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 465
Alfvén wave collisions, the fundamental building block of plasma turbulence. II. Numerical solution
journal, July 2013
- Nielson, K. D.; Howes, G. G.; Dorland, W.
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 7
Toward a theory of interstellar turbulence. 1: Weak Alfvenic turbulence
journal, September 1994
- Sridhar, S.; Goldreich, P.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 432
Intermittent Dissipation at Kinetic Scales in Collisionless Plasma Turbulence
journal, November 2012
- Wan, M.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Karimabadi, H.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 19
Intermittent Heating in Solar wind and Kinetic Simulations
journal, January 2013
- Wu, P.; Perri, S.; Osman, K.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 763, Issue 2
Statistical Analysis of Current Sheets in Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
journal, June 2013
- Zhdankin, Vladimir; Uzdensky, Dmitri A.; Perez, Jean C.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 771, Issue 2