Simplified model of nonlinear Landau damping

Journal Article · Wed Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3160604· OSTI ID:21277281

Yampolsky, N A; Fisch, N J ^[1]

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1. Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)

The nonlinear interaction of a plasma wave with resonant electrons results in a plateau in the electron distribution function close to the phase velocity of the plasma wave. As a result, Landau damping of the plasma wave vanishes and the resonant frequency of the plasma wave downshifts. However, this simple picture is invalid when the external driving force changes the plasma wave fast enough so that the plateau cannot be fully developed. A new model to describe amplification of the plasma wave including the saturation of Landau damping and the nonlinear frequency shift is proposed. The proposed model takes into account the change of the plasma wave amplitude and describes saturation of the Landau damping rate in terms of a single fluid equation, which simplifies the description of the inherently kinetic nature of Landau damping. A proposed fluid model, incorporating these simplifications, is verified numerically using a kinetic Vlasov code.

• OSTI ID: 21277281
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 16; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BOLTZMANN-VLASOV EQUATION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRONS
LANDAU DAMPING
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PHASE VELOCITY
PLASMA SIMULATION
PLASMA WAVES