Particle simulation of the kinetic Kelvin--Helmholtz instability in a magnetoplasma

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860826· OSTI ID:6273404

Cai, D ^[1]; Storey, L R.O. ^[2]; Itoh, T ^[3]

---

1. Institute of Information Sciences and Electronics, The University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, 305 (Japan)
2. National Space Science Data Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 (United States)
3. Business Administration of Kobe University, Rokkoudai, Nada, Kobe, 657 (Japan)

The kinetic Kelvin--Helmholtz instability in a collisionless magnetoplasma is simulated numerically in cases where the ion gyroradius is comparable with or larger than the spatial scale of the cross-field shear. The approach consists of starting the simulation from a state close to equilibrium, then observing the linear growth of instabilities and their ultimate saturation. The initial quasiequilibrium state is set up by a newly developed particle loading method; the instabilities are excited by numerical noise. The simulation is performed in two dimensions, in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field, using an electrostatic particle code. The results for the kinetic Kelvin--Helmholtz instability are similar to those predicted by a hydromagnetic model, except that they depend slightly on the sign of the shear. Other instabilities are observed also: when the ion gyroradius is small on the scale of the shear, there is an unidentified short-wavelength instability characterized by [ital k] [Delta][ital x][ge]1, where [ital k] is the wave number in the flow direction and [Delta][ital x] is the spatial scale of the shear; when the ion gyroradius is large, Bernstein waves, both ionic and electronic, are excited in the flow direction.

• OSTI ID: 6273404
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (United States) Vol. 5:10; ISSN 0899-8221; ISSN PFBPEI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700340* -- Plasma Waves
Oscillations
& Instabilities-- (1992-)
BERNSTEIN MODE
COLLISIONLESS PLASMA
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY
INSTABILITY
INSTABILITY GROWTH RATES
IONOSPHERE
OSCILLATION MODES
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
SIMULATION