A gyrofluid description of Alfvenic turbulence and its parallel electric field
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom)
Anisotropic Alfvenic fluctuations with k{sub ||}/k{sub perpendicular}<<1 remain at frequencies much smaller than the ion cyclotron frequency in the presence of a strong background magnetic field. Based on the simplest truncation of the electromagnetic gyrofluid equations in a homogeneous plasma, a model for the energy cascade produced by Alfvenic turbulence is constructed, which smoothly connects the large magnetohydrodynamics scales and the small 'kinetic' scales. Scaling relations are obtained for the electromagnetic fluctuations, as a function of k{sub perpendicular} and k{sub ||}. Moreover, a particular attention is paid to the spectral structure of the parallel electric field which is produced by Alfvenic turbulence. The reason is the potential implication of this parallel electric field in turbulent acceleration and transport of particles. For electromagnetic turbulence, this issue was raised some time ago in Hasegawa and Mima [J. Geophys. Res. 83, 1117 (1978)].
- OSTI ID:
- 21378029
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3439682; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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