Whistler wave turbulence in astrophysical plasmas

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

2149 Mhd Waves And Turbulence, 2164 Solar Wind Plasma

Scientific paper

In certain circumstances, astrophysical and laboratory plasmas are characterized by time and spatial length scales that are relatively fast and small compared to ion gyro-periods and gyro-radii which can not be explained by magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) description of plasmas (accruing on Alfven transit time). A theory best suited for describing rapid electron time scale phenomena is known as electron magnetohydrodynamics (EMHD) in which Whistler waves are the characteristic modes propagating along a self-consistent or mean magnetic field. Whistler waves and electron dynamics are critical to many aspects of astrophysical plasmas, such as the structure of collisionless quasi-perpendicular shocks, to our understanding of magnetic reconnection, dissipation and heating processes in the solar wind, fast plasma opening switches, anomalous diffusion of field in plasma, and others. In this work, we investigate spectral transfer processes in the presence of a self-consistent or mean magnetic field in a two dimensional EMHD model. Our investigation, based upon fluid simulations, reveal that an initially isotropic turbulent spectrum evolves into an anisotropic spectrum in the presence of a mean magnetic field. The anisotropy varies systematically with the strength of the external magnetic field. A particularly simple relationship between the anisotropy of the turbulence and the external mean magnetic field emerges from the simulations. We find that the anisotropic cascades in the EMHD turbulence acquire an almost linear relationship with the magnitude of the external magnetic field. Based on weak turbulence theory, we confirm that the whistler waves mediate anisotropic cascades by suppressing the spectral transfer in their direction of propagation.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Whistler wave turbulence in astrophysical plasmas does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Whistler wave turbulence in astrophysical plasmas, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Whistler wave turbulence in astrophysical plasmas will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1644128

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.