Supersonic plasma turbulence in the laboratory

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09498-y

Title: Supersonic plasma turbulence in the laboratory

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Abstract

The properties of supersonic, compressible plasma turbulence determine the behavior of many terrestrial and astrophysical systems. In the interstellar medium and molecular clouds, compressible turbulence plays a vital role in star formation and the evolution of our galaxy. Observations of the density and velocity power spectra in the Orion B and Perseus molecular clouds show large deviations from those predicted for incompressible turbulence. Hydrodynamic simulations attribute this to the high Mach number in the interstellar medium (ISM), although the exact details of this dependence are not well understood. Here we investigate experimentally the statistical behavior of boundary-free supersonic turbulence created by the collision of two laser-driven high-velocity turbulent plasma jets. The Mach number dependence of the slopes of the density and velocity power spectra agree with astrophysical observations, and supports the notion that the turbulence transitions from being Kolmogorov-like at low Mach number to being more Burgers-like at higher Mach numbers.

Authors:

White, T. G. ^[1]; Oliver, M. T. ^[1]; Mabey, P. ^[2]; Kühn-Kauffeldt, M. ^[3]; Bott, A. F. A. ^[4];

^[5]; Bell, A. R. ^[4]; Bingham, R. ^[6]; Clarke, R. ^[7]; Foster, J. ^[8]; Giacinti, G. ^[9]; Graham, P. ^[8]; Heathcote, R. ^[7]; Koenig, M. ^[10]; Kuramitsu, Y. ^[11]; Lamb, D. Q. ^[12]; Meinecke, J. ^[4]; Michel, Th. ^[13]; Miniati, F. ^[4]; Notley, M. ^[7] more »

Univ. of Oxford, Oxford (United Kingdom); Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)
Univ. of Oxford, Oxford (United Kingdom); Sorbonne Univ., Palaiseau cedex (France)
Univ. der Bundeswehr Munchen, Neubiberg (Germany)
Univ. of Oxford, Oxford (United Kingdom)
Univ. of York, York (United Kingdom)
STFC Rutherford Appleton Lab., Didcot (United Kingdom); Univ. of Strathclyde, Glasgow (United Kingdom)
STFC Rutherford Appleton Lab., Didcot (United Kingdom)
AWE, Reading (United Kingdom)
Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany)
Sorbonne Univ., Palaiseau cedex (France); Osaka Univ., Osaka (Japan)
Osaka Univ., Osaka (Japan)
Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
Sorbonne Univ., Palaiseau cedex (France)
Queens Univ. Belfast, Belfast (United Kingdom)
UNIST, Ulsan (Korea)
Inst. of Laser Engineering, Osaka (Japan)
California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); Univ. of Otago, Dunedin (New Zealand)

Publication Date:: 2019-04-15

Research Org.:: Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) (SC-24)

OSTI Identifier:: 1511862

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0019268

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nature Communications

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats


                    White, T. G., Oliver, M. T., Mabey, P., Kühn-Kauffeldt, M., Bott, A. F. A., Döhl, L. N. K., Bell, A. R., Bingham, R., Clarke, R., Foster, J., Giacinti, G., Graham, P., Heathcote, R., Koenig, M., Kuramitsu, Y., Lamb, D. Q., Meinecke, J., Michel, Th., Miniati, F., Notley, M., Reville, B., Ryu, D., Sarkar, S., Sakawa, Y., Selwood, M. P., Squire, J., Scott, R. H. H., Tzeferacos, P., Woolsey, N., Schekochihin, A. A., and Gregori, G. Supersonic plasma turbulence in the laboratory.  United States: N. p., 2019. 
        Web.  doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09498-y.

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                    White, T. G., Oliver, M. T., Mabey, P., Kühn-Kauffeldt, M., Bott, A. F. A., Döhl, L. N. K., Bell, A. R., Bingham, R., Clarke, R., Foster, J., Giacinti, G., Graham, P., Heathcote, R., Koenig, M., Kuramitsu, Y., Lamb, D. Q., Meinecke, J., Michel, Th., Miniati, F., Notley, M., Reville, B., Ryu, D., Sarkar, S., Sakawa, Y., Selwood, M. P., Squire, J., Scott, R. H. H., Tzeferacos, P., Woolsey, N., Schekochihin, A. A., & Gregori, G. Supersonic plasma turbulence in the laboratory.  United States.  doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09498-y.

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                    White, T. G., Oliver, M. T., Mabey, P., Kühn-Kauffeldt, M., Bott, A. F. A., Döhl, L. N. K., Bell, A. R., Bingham, R., Clarke, R., Foster, J., Giacinti, G., Graham, P., Heathcote, R., Koenig, M., Kuramitsu, Y., Lamb, D. Q., Meinecke, J., Michel, Th., Miniati, F., Notley, M., Reville, B., Ryu, D., Sarkar, S., Sakawa, Y., Selwood, M. P., Squire, J., Scott, R. H. H., Tzeferacos, P., Woolsey, N., Schekochihin, A. A., and Gregori, G. Mon .  
        "Supersonic plasma turbulence in the laboratory".  United States.  doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09498-y.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1511862.

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@article{osti_1511862,

  title        = {Supersonic plasma turbulence in the laboratory},

  author       = {White, T. G. and Oliver, M. T. and Mabey, P. and Kühn-Kauffeldt, M. and Bott, A. F. A. and Döhl, L. N. K. and Bell, A. R. and Bingham, R. and Clarke, R. and Foster, J. and Giacinti, G. and Graham, P. and Heathcote, R. and Koenig, M. and Kuramitsu, Y. and Lamb, D. Q. and Meinecke, J. and Michel, Th. and Miniati, F. and Notley, M. and Reville, B. and Ryu, D. and Sarkar, S. and Sakawa, Y. and Selwood, M. P. and Squire, J. and Scott, R. H. H. and Tzeferacos, P. and Woolsey, N. and Schekochihin, A. A. and Gregori, G.},

  abstractNote = {The properties of supersonic, compressible plasma turbulence determine the behavior of many terrestrial and astrophysical systems. In the interstellar medium and molecular clouds, compressible turbulence plays a vital role in star formation and the evolution of our galaxy. Observations of the density and velocity power spectra in the Orion B and Perseus molecular clouds show large deviations from those predicted for incompressible turbulence. Hydrodynamic simulations attribute this to the high Mach number in the interstellar medium (ISM), although the exact details of this dependence are not well understood. Here we investigate experimentally the statistical behavior of boundary-free supersonic turbulence created by the collision of two laser-driven high-velocity turbulent plasma jets. The Mach number dependence of the slopes of the density and velocity power spectra agree with astrophysical observations, and supports the notion that the turbulence transitions from being Kolmogorov-like at low Mach number to being more Burgers-like at higher Mach numbers.},

  doi          = {10.1038/s41467-019-09498-y},

  journal      = {Nature Communications},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 10,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2019},

  month        = {4}

}

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