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Title: Dual Phase-space Cascades in 3D Hybrid-Vlasov–Maxwell Turbulence

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences
  2. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences; Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
  3. Univ. of Pisa (Italy). Enrico Fermi Physics Dept.

To explain energy dissipation via turbulence in collisionless, magnetized plasmas, the existence of a dual real- and velocity-space cascade of ion-entropy fluctuations below the ion gyroradius has been proposed. Such a dual cascade, predicted by the gyrokinetic theory, has previously been observed in gyrokinetic simulations of two-dimensional, electrostatic turbulence. For the first time we show evidence for a dual phase-space cascade of ion-entropy fluctuations in a three-dimensional simulation of hybrid-kinetic, electromagnetic turbulence. Some of the scalings observed in the energy spectra are consistent with a generalized theory for the cascade that accounts for the spectral anisotropy of critically balanced, intermittent, sub-ion-Larmor-scale fluctuations. Also, the observed velocity-space cascade is anisotropic with respect to the magnetic-field direction, with linear phase mixing along magnetic-field lines proceeding mainly at spatial scales above the ion gyroradius and nonlinear phase mixing across magnetic-field lines proceeding at perpendicular scales below the ion gyroradius. Such phase-space anisotropy could be sought in heliospheric and magnetospheric data of solar-wind turbulence and has far-reaching implications for the dissipation of turbulence in weakly collisional astrophysical plasmas.

Research Organization:
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; CINECA consortium (Italy); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Grant/Contract Number:
HP10BEANCY; NNX16AK09G
OSTI ID:
1432940
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), Vol. 856, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-8213
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 52 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (20)

The multi-scale nature of the solar wind journal December 2019
Local energy transfer rate and kinetic processes: the fate of turbulent energy in two-dimensional hybrid Vlasov–Maxwell numerical simulations journal April 2018
Finite-Larmor-radius equilibrium and currents of the Earth’s flank magnetopause journal September 2018
Collisionless energy transfer in kinetic turbulence: field–particle correlations in Fourier space journal July 2019
ViDA: a Vlasov–DArwin solver for plasma physics at electron scales journal October 2019
Fluid simulations of plasma turbulence at ion scales: Comparison with Vlasov-Maxwell simulations journal May 2018
Velocity-space cascade in magnetized plasmas: Numerical simulations journal June 2018
Decomposition of plasma kinetic entropy into position and velocity space and the use of kinetic entropy in particle-in-cell simulations journal August 2019
Energy conversion in turbulent weakly collisional plasmas: Eulerian hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell simulations journal July 2019
Thermal disequilibration of ions and electrons by collisionless plasma turbulence journal December 2018
Fluidization of collisionless plasma turbulence journal January 2019
Fourier–Hermite decomposition of the collisional Vlasov–Maxwell system: implications for the velocity-space cascade journal March 2019
A massively parallel semi-Lagrangian solver for the six-dimensional Vlasov–Poisson equation journal January 2019
A Look at Phase Space Intermittency in Magnetized Plasma Turbulence journal November 2019
Proton–Proton Collisions in the Turbulent Solar Wind: Hybrid Boltzmann–Maxwell Simulations journal December 2019
Fourier-Hermite decomposition of the collisional Vlasov-Maxwell system: implications for the velocity space cascade text January 2018
A massively parallel semi-Lagrangian solver for the six-dimensional Vlasov-Poisson equation text January 2019
Proton-proton collisions in the turbulent solar wind: Hybrid Boltzmann-Maxwell simulations text January 2019
Energy conversion in turbulent weakly-collisional plasmas: Eulerian Hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell simulations text January 2019
Collisionless energy transfer in kinetic turbulence: field-particle correlations in Fourier space text January 2019

Figures / Tables (3)