Vlasov simulations of electron-ion collision effects on damping of electron plasma waves

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4943194· OSTI ID:22599015

Brunner, S.; Tran, T. M. ^[1]; Berger, R. L. ^[2]

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1. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Swiss Plasma Center (SPC), CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551 (United States)

Collisional effects can play an essential role in the dynamics of plasma waves by setting a minimum damping rate and by interfering with wave-particle resonances. Kinetic simulations of the effects of electron-ion pitch angle scattering on Electron Plasma Waves (EPWs) are presented here. In particular, the effects of such collisions on the frequency and damping of small-amplitude EPWs for a range of collision rates and wave phase velocities are computed and compared with theory. Both the Vlasov simulations and linear kinetic theory find the direct contribution of electron-ion collisions to wave damping significantly reduced from that obtained through linearized fluid theory. To our knowledge, this simple result has not been published before. Simulations have been carried out using a grid-based (Vlasov) approach, based on a high-order conservative finite difference method for discretizing the Fokker-Planck equation describing the evolution of the electron distribution function. Details of the implementation of the collision operator within this framework are presented. Such a grid-based approach, which is not subject to numerical noise, is of particular interest for the accurate measurements of the wave damping rates.

• OSTI ID: 22599015
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 23; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
BOLTZMANN-VLASOV EQUATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DAMPING
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRON PLASMA WAVES
ELECTRON-ION COLLISIONS
ELECTRONS
FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD
FLUIDS
FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION
GRIDS
IONS
NOISE
PARTICLES
PHASE VELOCITY
PITCHES
PLASMA SIMULATION