Energy dissipation by whistler turbulence: Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations

Chang, Ouliang; Wang, Joseph

doi:10.1063/1.4875728

Title: Energy dissipation by whistler turbulence: Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations

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Abstract

Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of whistler turbulence are carried out on a collisionless, homogeneous, magnetized plasma model. The simulations use an initial ensemble of relatively long wavelength whistler modes and follow the temporal evolution of the fluctuations as they cascade into a broadband, anisotropic, turbulent spectrum at shorter wavelengths. For relatively small levels of the initial fluctuation energy ϵ{sub e}, linear collisionless damping provides most of the dissipation of the turbulence. But as ϵ{sub e} and the total dissipation increase, linear damping becomes less important and, especially at β{sub e} ≪ 1, nonlinear processes become stronger. The PDFs and kurtoses of the magnetic field increments in the simulations suggest that intermittency in whistler turbulence generally increases with increasing ϵ{sub e} and β{sub e}. Correlation coefficient calculations imply that the current structure dissipation also increases with increasing ϵ{sub e} and β{sub e}, and that the nonlinear dissipation processes in these simulations are primarily associated with regions of localized current structures.

Authors:

Chang, Ouliang ^[1]; Wang, Joseph ^[2]

Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, California 94065 (United States)
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California (United States)

Publication Date:: Thu May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014

OSTI Identifier:: 22252867

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: Physics of Plasmas

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 21; Journal Issue: 5; Other Information: (c) 2014 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; ANISOTROPY; DAMPING; ENERGY LOSSES; FLUCTUATIONS; MAGNETIC FIELDS; NONLINEAR PROBLEMS; PLASMA; SIMULATION; THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS; TURBULENCE; WAVELENGTHS; WHISTLER INSTABILITY; WHISTLERS

Citation Formats


                    Chang, Ouliang, Peter Gary, S., E-mail: pgary@lanl.gov, and Wang, Joseph. Energy dissipation by whistler turbulence: Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.  United States: N. p., 2014. 
        Web.  doi:10.1063/1.4875728.

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                    Chang, Ouliang, Peter Gary, S., E-mail: pgary@lanl.gov, & Wang, Joseph. Energy dissipation by whistler turbulence: Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4875728

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                    Chang, Ouliang, Peter Gary, S., E-mail: pgary@lanl.gov, and Wang, Joseph. 2014.  
        "Energy dissipation by whistler turbulence: Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4875728.

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@article{osti_22252867,

  title        = {Energy dissipation by whistler turbulence: Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations},

  author       = {Chang, Ouliang and Peter Gary, S., E-mail: pgary@lanl.gov and Wang, Joseph},

  abstractNote = {Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of whistler turbulence are carried out on a collisionless, homogeneous, magnetized plasma model. The simulations use an initial ensemble of relatively long wavelength whistler modes and follow the temporal evolution of the fluctuations as they cascade into a broadband, anisotropic, turbulent spectrum at shorter wavelengths. For relatively small levels of the initial fluctuation energy ϵ{sub e}, linear collisionless damping provides most of the dissipation of the turbulence. But as ϵ{sub e} and the total dissipation increase, linear damping becomes less important and, especially at β{sub e} ≪ 1, nonlinear processes become stronger. The PDFs and kurtoses of the magnetic field increments in the simulations suggest that intermittency in whistler turbulence generally increases with increasing ϵ{sub e} and β{sub e}. Correlation coefficient calculations imply that the current structure dissipation also increases with increasing ϵ{sub e} and β{sub e}, and that the nonlinear dissipation processes in these simulations are primarily associated with regions of localized current structures.},

  doi          = {10.1063/1.4875728},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22252867},
  journal      = {Physics of Plasmas},

  issn         = {1070-664X},

  number       = 5,

  volume       = 21,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014},

  month        = {Thu May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014}

}

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