arXiv subjects

G. Lapenta

Publications and source records attributed to G. Lapenta.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Plasma physical parameters along Coronal Mass Ejection-driven shocks: I observations

In this work UV and white light (WL) coronagraphic data are combined to derive the full set of plasma physical parameters along the front of a shock driven by a Coronal Mass Ejection. Pre-shock plasma density, shock compression ratio, speed and inclination angle are estimated from WL data, while pre-shock plasma temperature and outflow velocity are derived from UV data. The Rankine-Hugoniot (RH) equations for the general case of an oblique shock are then applied at three points along the front located between $2.2-2.6$ R$_\odot$ at the shock nose and at the two flanks. Stronger field deflection (by $\sim 46^\circ$), plasma compression (factor $\sim 2.7$) and heating (factor $\sim 12$) occur at the nose, while heating at the flanks is more moderate (factor $1.5-3.0$). Starting from a pre-shock corona where protons and electrons have about the same temperature ($T_p \sim T_e \sim 1.5 \cdot 10^6$ K), temperature increases derived with RH equations could better represent the protons heating (by dissipation across the shock), while the temperature increase implied by adiabatic compression (factor $\sim 2$ at the nose, $\sim 1.2-1.5$ at the flanks) could be more representative of electrons heating: the transit of the shock causes a decoupling between electron and proton temperatures. Derived magnetic field vector rotations imply a draping of field lines around the expanding flux rope. The shock turns out to be super-critical (sub-critical) at the nose (at the flanks), where derived post-shock plasma parameters can be very well approximated with those derived by assuming a parallel (perpendicular) shock.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

Nonlinear evolution of the magnetized Kelvin-Helmholtz instability: from fluid to kinetic modeling

The nonlinear evolution of collisionless plasmas is typically a multi-scale process where the energy is injected at large, fluid scales and dissipated at small, kinetic scales. Accurately modelling the global evolution requires to take into account the main micro-scale physical processes of interest. This is why comparison of different plasma models is today an imperative task aiming at understanding cross-scale processes in plasmas. We report here the first comparative study of the evolution of a magnetized shear flow, through a variety of different plasma models by using magnetohydrodynamic, Hall-MHD, two-fluid, hybrid kinetic and full kinetic codes. Kinetic relaxation effects are discussed to emphasize the need for kinetic equilibriums to study the dynamics of collisionless plasmas in non trivial configurations. Discrepancies between models are studied both in the linear and in the nonlinear regime of the magnetized Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, to highlight the effects of small scale processes on the nonlinear evolution of collisionless plasmas. We illustrate how the evolution of a magnetized shear flow depends on the relative orientation of the fluid vorticity with respect to the magnetic field direction during the linear evolution when kinetic effects are taken into account. Even if we found that small scale processes differ between the different models, we show that the feedback from small, kinetic scales to large, fluid scales is negligable in the nonlinear regime. This study show that the kinetic modeling validates the use of a fluid approach at large scales, which encourages the development and use of fluid codes to study the nonlinear evolution of magnetized fluid flows, even in the colisionless regime.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2013

Spectroscopic indication of suprathermal ions in the solar corona

Using spectroscopic data, we support the possibility of suprathermal distributions of coronal ions by fitting the equivalent kappa functions to their emission line profiles. We fit different kappa and Gaussian model functions to line profiles of the strong Fe xv line at 284.16 Angstroms, across two large-field spectroscopic rasters taken in a solar active region. Both single- and double-component Gaussian models are applied, as well as two kappa models, one with a free width parameter allowing for and the other with a constrained width that precludes "microturbulence". We then compare the goodness of fit of the computed best fits for each model. The kappa distribution is a generalization, or superset, of the Maxwellian, so they are able to fit line profiles more precisely than a Gaussian. In most of the data, the best-fit kappa model produces much lower residuals across the profile than any single Gaussian and sometimes double Gaussian. Most importantly, the distribution of estimated kappa values is found to lie mostly in the low-kappa range, implying ion populations far from Maxwellian. Even when the width is removed as a free parameter of fit, the kappa model is still able to fit the data credibly, again with low best-fit values of kappa. We find the shape of the Fe xv line, in the vast majority of the data analyzed, to be indicative of a highly suprathermal ion population.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

A Multi Level Multi Domain Method for Particle In Cell Plasma Simulations

A novel adaptive technique for electromagnetic Particle In Cell (PIC) plasma simulations is presented here. Two main issues are identified in designing adaptive techniques for PIC simulation: first, the choice of the size of the particle shape function in progressively refined grids, with the need to avoid the exertion of self-forces on particles, and, second, the necessity to comply with the strict stability constraints of the explicit PIC algorithm. The adaptive implementation presented responds to these demands with the introduction of a Multi Level Multi Domain (MLMD) system (where a cloud of self-similar domains is fully simulated with both fields and particles) and the use of an Implicit Moment PIC method as baseline algorithm for the adaptive evolution. Information is exchanged between the levels with the projection of the field information from the refined to the coarser levels and the interpolation of the boundary conditions for the refined levels from the coarser level fields. Particles are bound to their level of origin and are prevented from transitioning to coarser levels, but are repopulated at the refined grid boundaries with a splitting technique. The presented algorithm is tested against a series of simulation challenges.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2011

Bipolar Electric Field Signatures of Reconnection Separatrices for a Hydrogen Plasma at Realistic Guide Fields

In preparation for the MMS mission we ask the question: how common are bipolar signatures linked to the presence of electron holes along separatrices emanating from reconnection regions? To answer this question, we conduct massively parallel simulations for realistic conditions and for the hydrogen mass ratio in boxes larger than considered in similar previous studies. The magnetic field configuration includes both a field reversal and a out of plane guide field, as typical of many space situations. The guide field is varied in strength from low values (typical of the Earth magnetotail) to high values comparable to the in plane reconnecting field (as in the magnetopause). In all cases, along the separatrices a strong electron flow is observed, sufficient to lead to the onset of streaming instabilities and to form bipolar parallel electric field signatures. The presence of bipolar structures at all guide fields allows the control of the MMS mission to consider the presence of bipolar signatures as a general flag of the presence of a nearby reconnection site both in the nightside and in the dayside of the magnetosphere.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Predictor-Corrector Preconditioners for Newton-Krylov Solvers in Fluid Problems

We propose an alternative implementation of preconditioning techniques for the solution of non-linear problems. Within the framework of Newton-Krylov methods, preconditioning techniques are needed to improve the performance of the solvers. We propose a different implementation approach to re-utilize existing semi-implicit methods to precondition fully implicit non-linear schemes. We propose a predictor-corrector approach where the fully non-linear scheme is the corrector and the pre-existing semi-implicit scheme is the predictor. The advantage of the proposed approach is that it allows to retrofit existing codes, with only minor modifications, in particular avoiding the need to reformulate existing methods in terms of variations, as required instead by other approaches now currently used. To test the performance of the approach we consider a non-linear diffusion problem and the standard driven cavity problem for incompressible flows.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2006

Current driven rotating kink mode in a plasma column with a non-line-tied free end

First experimental measurements are presented for the kink instability in a linear plasma column which is insulated from an axial boundary by finite sheath resistivity. Instability threshold below the classical Kruskal-Shafranov threshold, axially asymmetric mode structure and rotation are observed. These are accurately reproduced by a recent kink theory, which includes axial plasma flow and one end of the plasma column that is free to move due to a non-line-tied boundary condition.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2004

Particle In Cell Simulation of Combustion Synthesis of TiC Nanoparticles

A coupled continuum-discrete numerical model is presented to study the synthesis of TiC nanosized aggregates during a self-propagating combustion synthesis (SHS) process. The overall model describes the transient of the basic mechanisms governing the SHS process in a two-dimensional micrometer size geometry system. At each time step, the continuum (micrometer scale) model computes the current temperature field according to the prescribed boundary conditions. The overall system domain is discretized with a desired number of uniform computational cells. Each cell contains a convenient number of computation particles which represent the actual particles mixture. The particle-in-cell (discrete) model maps the temperature field from the (continuum) cells to the respective internal particles. Depending on the temperature reached by the cell, the titanium particles may undergo a solid-liquid transformation. If the distance between the carbon particle and the liquid titanium particles is within a certain tolerance they will react and a TiC particle will be formed in the cell. Accordingly, the molecular dynamic method will update the location of all particles in the cell and the amount of transformation heat accounted by the cell will be entered into the source term of the (continuum) heat conduction equation. The new temperature distribution will progress depending on the cells which will time-by-time undergo the chemical reaction. As a demonstration of the effectiveness of the overall model some paradigmatic examples are shown.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2003

Kinetic simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection in presence of a guide field

The results of kinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection in Harris current sheets are analyzed. A range of guide fields is considered to study reconnection in plasmas characterized by different $β$ values, $β> m_e/m_i$. Both an implicit Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulation method and a parallel explicit PIC code are used. Simulations with mass ratios up to the physical value are performed. The simulations show that the reconnection rate decreases with the guide field and depends weakly on the mass ratio. The off-diagonal components of the electron pressure tensor break the frozen-in condition, even in low $β$ plasmas. In high $β$ plasmas, evidence is presented that whistler waves play a key role in the enhanced reconnection, while in low $β$ plasmas the kinetic Alfvén waves are important. The in-plane and the out-of-plane ion and electron motion are also considered, showing that they are influenced by the mass ratio and the plasma $β$.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Attractive Potential around a Thermionically Emitting Microparticle

We present a simulation study of the charging of a dust grain immersed in a plasma, considering the effect of electron emission from the grain (thermionic effect). It is shown that the OML theory is no longer reliable when electron emission becomes large: screening can no longer be treated within the Debye-Huckel approach and an attractive potential well forms, leading to the possibility of attractive forces on other grains with the same polarity. We suggest to perform laboratory experiments where emitting dust grains could be used to create non-conventional dust crystals or macro-molecules.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2000

Microscopic dynamics underlying the anomalous diffusion

The time dependent Tsallis statistical distribution describing anomalous diffusion is usually obtained in the literature as the solution of a non-linear Fokker-Planck (FP) equation [A.R. Plastino and A. Plastino, Physica A, 222, 347 (1995)]. The scope of the present paper is twofold. Firstly we show that this distribution can be obtained also as solution of the non-linear porous media equation. Secondly we prove that the time dependent Tsallis distribution can be obtained also as solution of a linear FP equation [G. Kaniadakis and P. Quarati, Physica A, 237, 229 (1997)] with coefficients depending on the velocity, that describes a generalized Brownian motion. This linear FP equation is shown to arise from a microscopic dynamics governed by a standard Langevin equation in presence of multiplicative noise.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗