Large scale magnetic fields and coherent structures in nonuniform unmagnetized plasma

Journal Article · Sat Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2234289· OSTI ID:20860123

Jucker, Martin; Andrushchenko, Zhanna N; Pavlenko, Vladimir P ^[1]

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1. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)

The properties of streamers and zonal magnetic structures in magnetic electron drift mode turbulence are investigated. The stability of such large scale structures is investigated in the kinetic and the hydrodynamic regime, for which an instability criterion similar to the Lighthill criterion for modulational instability is found. Furthermore, these large scale flows can undergo further nonlinear evolution after initial linear growth, which can lead to the formation of long-lived coherent structures consisting of self-bound wave packets between the surfaces of two different flow velocities with an expected modification of the anomalous electron transport properties.

• OSTI ID: 20860123
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 13; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ELECTRON DRIFT
ELECTRONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PLASMA DRIFT
PLASMA INSTABILITY
RADIATION TRANSPORT
STABILITY
TURBULENCE
WAVE PACKETS