Bursting processes in plasmas and relevant nonlinear model equations
- Phillips Laboratory, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts 01731-3010 (United States)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307 (United States)
Important intrinsic plasma instabilities manifest themselves in the form of periodic bursts of fluctuations rather than as a state of stationary fluctuations, which a conventional application of quasilinear theory would lead to expect. A set of coupled nonlinear equations for the time evolution of the fluctuation amplitude and of the driving factor of the relevant instability is shown to have the features necessary to reproduce the variety of bursts that are observed experimentally. These are the periodicity, the duration, and the shape of the bursts, special consideration being given to the excitation of modes by high-energy particle populations in thermalized plasmas and to a model for the transition from a bursting state to one of stationary fluctuations. A model is introduced that is relevant to the case where the spatial dependence of the mode amplitude is important. The application of the given analysis to the bursty wave emissions observed in space is discussed. {copyright} {ital 1995} {ital American} {ital Institute} {ital of} {ital Physics}.
- OSTI ID:
- 164960
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 2, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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