Quasilinear mechanism of high-energy ion-tail formation in the ion-acoustic instability

Details Quasilinear mechanism of high-energy ion-tail formation in the ion-acoustic instability Quasilinear mechanism of high-energy ion-tail formation in the ion-acoustic instability

Mar 1981

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1981phrvl..46..771i&link_type=abstract

Physical Review Letters, vol. 46, Mar. 23, 1981, p. 771-774. Research supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Researc

Physics

21

Ion Acoustic Waves, Ion Distribution, Magnetohydrodynamic Stability, Nonlinear Systems, Plasma Diffusion, Plasma Turbulence, Ion Motion, Plasma Heating, Plasma Waves, Velocity Distribution

Scientific paper

The formation mechanism for the high-energy tail in the ion velocity distribution observed during current-driven ion-acoustic instability is examined in terms of quasi-linear theory. For the case of a uniform, collisionless, unmagnetized plasma in which a constant current generates ion-acoustic instability and the electrons maintain a Maxwellian structure, the numerical solution of the simultaneous differential equations governing the time development of the electron and ion distributions and oscillation frequency of the system reveals the formation of a high-energy ion tail which extends toward higher energies with time and acts to quench the instability. Phase trajectories calculated for test ions placed in the field obtained from the analytical model are shown to confirm the model. Further examination of the role played by ions in resonant and nonresonant wave interactions reveals that nonresonant quasi-linear diffusion is essential for ion-tail formation, with the resonant interaction acting to pull more ions into the tail once it is formed.

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