An unsolved problem in plasma turbulence is how energy is dissipated at small scales. Particle collisions are too infrequent in hot plasmas to provide the necessary dissipation. Simulations either treat the fluid scales and impose an ad hoc form of dissipation (e.g., resistivity) or consider dissipation arising from resonant damping of small amplitude disturbances where damping rates are found to be comparable to that predicted from linear theory. Here, we report kinetic simulations that span the macroscopic fluid scales down to the motion of electrons. We find that turbulent cascade leads to generation of coherent structures in the form of current sheets that steepen to electron scales, triggering strong localized heating of the plasma. The dominant heating mechanism is due to parallel electric fields associated with the current sheets, leading to anisotropic electron and ion distributions which can be measured with NASA's upcoming Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. The motion of coherent structures also generates waves that are emitted into the ambient plasma in form of highly oblique compressional and shear Alfven modes. In 3D, modes propagating at other angles can also be generated. This indicates that intermittent plasma turbulence will in general consist of both coherent structures and waves. However, the current sheet heating is found to be locally several orders of magnitude more efficient than wave damping and is sufficient to explain the observed heating rates in the solar wind.
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January 2013
Research Article|
January 16 2013
Coherent structures, intermittent turbulence, and dissipation in high-temperature plasmas
H. Karimabadi;
H. Karimabadi
1
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California
, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
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V. Roytershteyn;
V. Roytershteyn
1
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California
, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
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M. Wan;
M. Wan
2
University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy
, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
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W. H. Matthaeus;
W. H. Matthaeus
2
University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy
, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
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W. Daughton;
W. Daughton
3
Los Alamos National Laboratory
, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
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P. Wu;
P. Wu
2
University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy
, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
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M. Shay;
M. Shay
2
University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy
, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
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B. Loring;
B. Loring
4
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
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J. Borovsky;
J. Borovsky
5
Space Science Institute
, Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA
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E. Leonardis;
E. Leonardis
6
Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, University of Warwick
, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
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S. C. Chapman;
S. C. Chapman
a)
6
Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, University of Warwick
, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
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T. K. M. Nakamura
T. K. M. Nakamura
3
Los Alamos National Laboratory
, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
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a)
Also at Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Tromso, Tomso, Norway.
Phys. Plasmas 20, 012303 (2013)
Article history
Received:
September 20 2012
Accepted:
December 07 2012
Citation
H. Karimabadi, V. Roytershteyn, M. Wan, W. H. Matthaeus, W. Daughton, P. Wu, M. Shay, B. Loring, J. Borovsky, E. Leonardis, S. C. Chapman, T. K. M. Nakamura; Coherent structures, intermittent turbulence, and dissipation in high-temperature plasmas. Phys. Plasmas 1 January 2013; 20 (1): 012303. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4773205
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