arXiv subjects

P. K. Shukla

Publications and source records attributed to P. K. Shukla.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Nonlinear electromagnetic wave equations for superdense magnetized plasmas

By using the quantum hydrodynamic and Maxwell equations, we derive nonlinear electron-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), Hall-MHD, and dust Hall-MHD equations for dense quantum magnetoplasmas. The nonlinear equations include the electromagnetic, the electron pressure gradient, as well as the quantum electron tunneling and electron spin forces. They are useful for investigating a number of wave phenomena including linear and nonlinear electromagnetic waves, as well as three-dimensional electromagnetic wave turbulence spectra arising from the mode coupling processes in dense magnetoplasmas.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2009

Excitation of multiple wakefields by short laser pulses in dense plasmas

We present a theoretical investigation of the excitation of multiple electrostatic wakefields by the ponderomotive force of a short electromagnetic pulse propagating through a dense plasma. It is found that the inclusion of the quantum statistical pressure and quantum electron tunneling effects can qualitatively change the classical behavior of the wakefield. In addition to the well known plasma oscillation wakefield, with a wavelength of the order of the electron skin depth, which in a dense plasma is of the order of several nanometers, wakefields in dense plasmas with a shorter wavelength are also excited. The wakefields can trap electrons and accelerate them to extremely high energies over nanoscales.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2009

Self-Diffusion in 2D Dusty Plasma Liquids: Numerical Simulation Results

We perform Brownian dynamics simulations for studying the self-diffusion in two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasma liquids, in terms of both mean-square displacement and velocity autocorrelation function (VAF). Super-diffusion of charged dust particles has been observed to be most significant at infinitely small damping rate $γ$ for intermediate coupling strength, where the long-time asymptotic behavior of VAF is found to be the product of $t^{-1}$ and $\exp{(-γt)}$. The former represents the prediction of early theories in 2D simple liquids and the latter the VAF of a free Brownian particle. This leads to a smooth transition from super-diffusion to normal diffusion, and then to sub-diffusion with an increase of the damping rate. These results well explain the seemingly contradictory scattered in recent classical molecular dynamics simulations and experiments of dusty plasmas.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Phase-space structures in quantum-plasma wave turbulence

The quasilinear theory of the Wigner-Poisson system in one spatial dimension is examined. Conservation laws and properties of the stationary solutions are determined. Quantum effects are shown to manifest themselves in transient periodic oscillations of the averaged Wigner function in velocity space. The quantum quasilinear theory is checked against numerical simulations of the bump-on-tail and the two-stream instabilities. The predicted wavelength of the oscillations in velocity space agrees well with the numerical results.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Nonlinear stationary solutions of the Wigner and Wigner-Poisson equations

Exact nonlinear stationary solutions of the one-dimensional Wigner and Wigner-Poisson equations in the terms of the Wigner functions that depend not only on the energy but also on position are presented. In this way, the Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal modes of the classical plasma are adapted for the quantum formalism in the phase space. The solutions are constructed for the case of a quartic oscillator potential, as well as for the self-consistent Wigner-Poisson case. Conditions for well-behaved physically meaningful equilibrium Wigner functions are discussed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

3D Electron Fluid Turbulence at Nanoscales in Dense Plasmas

We have performed three dimensional nonlinear fluid simulations of electron fluid turbulence at nanoscales in an unmagnetized warm dense plasma in which mode coupling between wave function and electrostatic potential associated with underlying electron plasma oscillations (EPOs) lead to nonlinear cascades in inertial range. While the wave function cascades towards smaller length scales, electrostatic potential follows an inverse cascade. We find from our simulations that quantum diffraction effect associated with a Bohm potential plays a critical role in determining the inertial range turbulent spectrum and the subsequent transport level exhibited by the 3D EPOs.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Quantum Trivelpiece-Gould waves in a magnetized dense plasma

The dispersion relation for the electrostatic waves below the electron plasma frequency in a dense quantum plasma is derived by using the magnetohydrodynamic model. It is shown that in the classical case the dispersion relation reduces to the expression obtained for the well-known Trivelpiece-Gould (TG) modes. Attention is also devoted to the case of solitary waves associated with the nonlinear TG modes.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Nonlinear structure in a current-carrying collisional dusty plasma

A perpendicular ion drift is investigated as a mechanism for the generation of magnetic field structures in a highly collisional dusty plasma. The basic dissipation mechanism is assumed to be the dust-neutrals momentum exchange, so that plasmas with a small ionization fraction are natural candidates for experiments. The model reduces to a nonlinear partial differential equation for the vector potential. The conditions for linear instability are determined. The stationary states are periodic arrangements for the magnetic field, described by a Lienard equation. The fully depleted (ion-dust) case is also considered in detail. Applications to planetary rings, comets and dust acoustic instability experiments are analyzed. A necessary condition for the validity of the model is a sufficiently slow time-scale of the generated magnetic fields.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Wake field generation and nonlinear evolution in a magnetized electron-positron-ion plasma

The nonlinear propagation of a circularly polarized electromagnetic (CPEM) wave in a strongly magnetized electron-positron-ion plasma is investigated. Two coupled equations describing the interaction between a high-frequency CPEM wave and the low-frequency electrostatic wake field are derived. It is found that the generation of the wake fields depends on the presence of the ion species. The wake field generation in turn leads to de-acceleration and frequency down conversion of the electromagnetic pulse.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Simulations of 2D magnetic electron drift vortex mode turbulence in plasmas

Simulations are performed to investigate turbulent properties of nonlinearly interacting two-dimensional (2D) magnetic electron drift vortex (MEDV) modes in a nonuniform unmagnetized plasma. The relevant nonlinear equations governing the dynamics of the MEDV modes are the wave magnetic field and electron temperature perturbations in the presence of the equilibrium density and temperature gradients. The important nonlinearities come from the advection of the electron fluid velocity perturbation and the electron temperature, as well as from the nonlinear electron Lorentz force. Computer simulations of the governing equations for the nonlinear MEDV modes reveal the generation of streamer-like electron flows, such that the corresponding gradients in the direction of the inhomogeneities tend to flatten out. By contrast, the gradients in an orthogonal direction vary rapidly. Consequently, the inertial range energy spectrum in decaying MEDV mode turbulence exhibits a much steeper anisotropic spectral index. The magnetic structures in the MEDV mode turbulence produce nonthermal electron transport in our nonuniform plasma.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Two-dimensional PIC simulations of ion-beam instabilities in Supernova-driven plasma flows

Supernova remnant (SNR) blast shells can reach the flow speed $v_s = 0.1 c$ and shocks form at its front. Instabilities driven by shock-reflected ion beams heat the plasma in the foreshock, which may inject particles into diffusive acceleration. The ion beams can have the speed $v_b \approx v_s$. For $v_b \ll v_s$ the Buneman or upper-hybrid instabilities dominate, while for $v_b \gg v_s$ the filamentation and mixed modes grow faster. Here the relevant waves for $v_b \approx v_s$ are examined and how they interact nonlinearly with the particles. The collision of two plasma clouds at the speed $v_s$ is modelled with particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, which convect with them magnetic fields oriented perpendicular to their flow velocity vector. One simulation models equally dense clouds and the other one uses a density ratio of 2. Both simulations show upper-hybrid waves that are planar over large spatial intervals and that accelerate electrons to $\sim$ 10 keV. The symmetric collision yields only short oscillatory wave pulses, while the asymmetric collision also produces large-scale electric fields, probably through a magnetic pressure gradient. The large-scale fields destroy the electron phase space holes and they accelerate the ions, which facilitates the formation of a precursor shock.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Turbulence and transport in two-dimensional magnetized electron plasmas

Electron plasmas confined by an external magnetic field exhibit variations in a two-dimensional plane orthogonal to the confining magnetic field. A nonlinear fluid simulation code to investigate the properties of 2-D electron plasma wave turbulence in a nonuniform magnetoplasma has been developed. It is found that the presence of the density gradient convection by mean electric fields considerably influence the characteristic nonlinear interaction processes, such as the energy cascades and the cross-field electron transport. The initial random turbulent state evolves towards an intermittent state where forward cascade of vorticity coexists with an inverse cascade of electric potential fluctuations. The latter lead to the formation of large scale entities in 2D electron plasmas and can be alternatively understood by seeking exact nonlinear coherent vortex solutions in the form of a dipolar-like configuration. The energy cascades are governed typically by the Kolmogorov-like $k^{-5/3}$ spectrum. In agreement with the experimental observations, we find that the electron transport is improved significantly by the application of an externally imposed electric field.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Nonlinear Saturation of the Weibel Instability in a Dense Fermi Plasma

We present an investigation for the generation of intense magnetic fields in dense plasmas with an anisotropic electron Fermi-Dirac distribution. For this purpose, we use a new linear dispersion relation for transverse waves in the Wigner-Maxwell dense quantum plasma system. Numerical analysis of the dispersion relation reveals the scaling of the growth rate as a function of the Fermi energy and the temperature anisotropy. The nonlinear saturation level of the magnetic fields is found through fully kinetic simulations, which indicates that the final amplitudes of the magnetic fields are proportional to the linear growth rate of the instability. The present results are important for understanding the origin of intense magnetic fields in dense Fermionic plasmas, such as those in the next generation intense laser-solid density plasma experiments.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2008

Cumulative effect of Weibel-type instabilities in counterstreaming plasmas with non-Maxwellian anisotropies

Counterstreaming plasma structures are widely present in laboratory experiments and astrophysical systems, and they are investigated either to prevent unstable modes arising in beam-plasma experiments or to prove the existence of large scale magnetic fields in astrophysical objects. Filamentation instability arises in a counterstreaming plasma and is responsible for the magnetization of the plasma. Filamentationally unstable mode is described by assuming that each of the counterstreaming plasmas has an isotropic Lorentzian (kappa) distribution. In this case, the filamentation instability growth rate can reach a maximum value markedly larger than that for a a plasma with a Maxwellian distribution function. This behaviour is opposite to what was observed for the Weibel instability growth rate in a bi-kappa plasma, which is always smaller than that obtained for a bi-Maxwellian plasma. The approach is further generalized for a counterstreaming plasma with a bi-kappa temperature anisotropy. In this case, the filamentation instability growth rate is enhanced by the Weibel effect when the plasma is hotter in the streaming direction, and the growth rate becomes even larger. These effects improve significantly the efficiency of the magnetic field generation, and provide further support for the potential role of the Weibel-type instabilities in the fast magnetization scenarios.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2007

Weibel Instabilities in Dense Quantum Plasmas

The quantum effect on the Weibel instability in an unmagnetized plasma is presented. Our analysis shows that the quantum effect tends to stabilize the Weibel instability in the hydrodynamic regime, whereas it produces a new oscillatory instability in the kinetic regime. A novel effect the quantum damping, which is associated with the Landau damping, is disclosed. The new quantum Weibel instability may be responsible for the generation of non-stationary magnetic fields in compact astrophysical objects as well as in the forthcoming intense laser-solid density plasma experiments.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2007

Surface waves on a quantum plasma half-space

Surface modes are coupled electromagnetic/electrostatic excitations of free electrons near the vacuum-plasma interface and can be excited on a sufficiently dense plasma half-space. They propagate along the surface plane and decay in either sides of the boundary. In such dense plasma models, which are of interest in electronic signal transmission or in some astrophysical applications, the dynamics of the electrons is certainly affected by the quantum effects. Thus, the dispersion relation for the surface wave on a quantum electron plasma half-space is derived by employing the quantum hydrodynamical (QHD) and Maxwell-Poison equations. The QHD include quantum forces involving the Fermi electron temperature and the quantum Bohm potential. It is found that, at room temperature, the quantum effects are mainly relevant for the electrostatic surface plasma waves in a dense gold metallic plasma.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2007

Magnetosonic solitons in a Fermionic quantum plasma

Starting from the governing equations for a quantum magnetoplasma including the quantum Bohm potential and electron spin-1/2 effects, we show that the system of quantum magnetohydrodynamic (QMHD) equations admit rarefactive solitons due to the balance between nonlinearities and quantum diffraction/tunneling effects. It is found that the electron spin-1/2 effect introduces a pressure-like term with negative sign in the QMHD equations, which modifies the shape of the solitary magnetosonic waves and makes them wider and shallower. Numerical simulations of the time-dependent system shows the development of rarefactive QMHD solitary waves that are modified by the spin effects.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2007

Magnetosonic solitons in a dusty plasma slab

The existence of magnetosonic solitons in dusty plasmas is investigated. The nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic equations for a warm dusty magnetoplasma are thus derived. A solution of the nonlinear equations is presented. It is shown that, due to the presence of dust, static structures are allowed. This is in sharp contrast to the formation of the so called shocklets in usual magnetoplasmas. A comparatively small number of dust particles can thus drastically alter the behavior of the nonlinear structures in magnetized plasmas.

physics.plasm-ph↗