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Wave turbulence in magnetohydrodynamics

This chapter reviews the recent progress made mainly during the last two decades on wave turbulence in magnetized plasmas (MHD, Hall MHD and electron MHD) in the incompressible and compressible cases. The emphasis is made on homogeneous and anisotropic turbulence which usually provides the best theoretical framework to investigate space and laboratory plasmas. The interplanetary medium and the solar atmosphere are presented as two examples of media where anisotropic wave turbulence is relevant. The most important results of wave turbulence are reported and discussed in the context of space and simulated magnetized plasmas. Important issues and possible spurious interpretations are eventually discussed.

astro-ph.SR↗

Resonant charge transfer at dielectric surfaces

We report on the theoretical description of secondary electron emission due to resonant charge transfer occurring during the collision of metastable nitrogen molecules with dielectric surfaces. The emission is described as a two step process consisting of electron capture to form an intermediate shape resonance and subsequent electron emission by decay of this ion, either due to its natural life time or its interaction with the surface. The electron capture is modeled using the Keldysh Green's function technique and the negative ion decay is described by a combination of the Keldysh technique and a rate equation approach. We find the resonant capture of electrons to be very efficient and the natural decay to be clearly dominating over the surface-induced decay. Secondary electron emission coefficients are calculated for aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, silicon oxide, and diamond at several kinetic energies of the projectile. With the exception of magnesium oxide the coefficients turn out to be of the order of 0.1 over the whole range of kinetic energies. This rather large value is a direct consequence of the shape resonance acting as a relay state for electron emission.

physics.plasm-ph↗

Permeation of Low-Z Atoms through Carbon Sheets: Density Functional Theory Study on Energy Barriers and Deformation Effects

Energetic and geometric aspects of the permeation of low-Z atoms through graphene sheets are investigated. Energy barriers and deformations are calculated via density functional theory for the permeation of H, He, Li and Be atoms at several surface sites and at a hollow site for atoms B, C, O and Ne atoms. Graphene is modeled by large planar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the convergence of both energy barriers and deformation curves with increasing size of these hydrocarbons is investigated. Effective energy curves are summarized for the atoms under consideration in three different interaction regimes realized different geometrical constraints. In addition to the bare graphene model, the interaction between low-Z atoms and 100% hydrogenated coronene as a model for graphane is also investigated. The adiabatic barriers range from about 5 eV (1 eV = 1.602 x 10-19 J) for H to about 20 eV for Ne. Facilitation of the permeation by temporary chemical bonding is observed for O and C and for B and Be when interacting with hydrogenated coronene. The results are in good agreement with existing experimental and theoretical work and reflect the essential physics of the dynamics of H bombardment of graphite (0001) surfaces. Implications for modeling chemical sputtering of graphite in a mixed-material scenario as it will be the case in the next step fusion experiment ITER and potential building are discussed.

physics.chem-ph↗

Electromagnetotoroid Structures and their Hydrodynamic Analogs

We introduce the concept of an electromagnetotoroid in astrophysics, and explore its role in polar jets. This model represents the onset of Abraham's force driven by some external source, for example, the infall of gas towards a star. The Abraham's force term is analogous to the Magnus force, and thus represents the formation of electromagnetic vortex structures in the fabric of space-time. In principle, the proposed toroidal field structure can also provide force spaceship propulsion.

physics.plasm-ph↗

General Approach for Deriving Reference Distribution Functions for Systems out of Equilibrium by Statistical Thermodynamics

A general approach for deriving the expression of reference (density of) distribution functions, F^0, by statistical thermodynamics and the definition of local equilibrium conditions is illustrated. This procedure may be adopted for a system subject to an arbitrary number of thermodynamic forces. For concreteness, we analyze the case of a system submitted to three independent thermodynamic forces and the local equilibrium corresponds to the configuration of minimum entropy production condition and the maximum entropy principle. In this limit case, we show that the derived expression of distribution function is more general than that one, which is currently used for fitting the numerical steady-state solution obtained by simulating the Ion Cyclotron Radiation Heating (ICRH) FAST-plasmas and for describing various scenarios of tokamak plasmas. Through kinetic theory, we fixed the free parameters linking them with the external power supplies. The singularity at low energy in the proposed distribution function is related to the intermittency in the turbulent plasma. As a matter of fact, this work is not restricted to, but applied to, tokamak plasmas. Tokamak-plasmas are taken as an example of close thermodynamic systems. An application to a simple model of fully ionized tokamak-plasmas submitted to an external Ohmic source is discussed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Ion Acceleration by the Radiation Pressure of Slow Electromagnetic Wave

When the ions are accelerated by the radiation pressure of the laser pulse, their velocity can not exceed the laser group velocity, in the case when it is less than the speed of light in vacuum. This is demonstrated in two cases corresponding to the thin foil target irradiated by a high intensity laser light and to the hole boring by the laser pulse in the extended plasma accompanied by the collisionless shock wave formation. It is found that the beams of accelerated at the collisionless shock wave front ions are unstable against the Buneman-lke and the Weibel-like instabilities which result in the ion energy spectrum broadening.

physics.plasm-ph↗

Spontaneous Bifurcation of Single Peaked Current Sheets by Chaotic Electron Scattering

It is shown that single-peaked collisionless current sheets in a Harris-type equilibrium spontaneously bifurcate as a result of chaotic scattering of electrons at fluctuating magnetic fields near the center of the sheet, as demonstrated by a 2D kinetic particle-in-cell simulation. For this effect to be simulated explicit particle advancing is necessary, since the details of the electron motion have to be resolved. Unlike previous investigations of triggering bifurcated current sheet (BCS) where initial perturbations or external pressure was applied the bifurcation is spontaneous if thermal noise is taken into account. A spontaneous current sheet bifurcation develops quicker than a tearing mode or other plasma instabilities. It is shown that in the course of the current sheet bifurcation the Helmholtz free energy decreases while the entropy increases, i.e. the new, bifurcated current sheet is in a more propable state than the single-peaked one.

physics.plasm-ph↗

Rethinking Electrostatic Solvers in Particle Simulations for the Exascale Era

In preparation to the exascale era, an alternative approach to calculate the electrostatic forces in Particle Mesh (PM) methods is proposed. While the traditional techniques are based on the calculation of the electrostatic potential by solving the Poisson equation, in the new approach the electric field is calculated by solving the Ampere's law. When the Ampere's law is discretized explicitly in time, the electric field values on the mesh are simply updated from the previous values. In this way, the electrostatic solver becomes an embarrassingly parallel problem, making the algorithm extremely scalable and suitable for exascale computing platforms. An implementation of a one dimensional PM code is presented to show that the proposed method produces correct results, and it is a very promising algorithm for exascale PM simulations.

physics.comp-ph↗

A simple model for cavity-enhanced laser-driven ion acceleration from thin foil targets

A scenario for the enhanced laser-driven ion acceleration from a thin solid target at high laser intensity is considered, where the target is enclosed in a reflecting cavity. The laser pulse reflected from the target is redirected towards the target by reflection at the inner cavity wall. This scenario is discussed in the context of sub-wavelength foil acceleration in the radiation pressure regime, when plasma dynamics is known to be reasonably well described by the light-sail model. A semi-analytic formula is presented that describes the effect of cavity reflections in one-dimensional geometry. The effect of cavity reflections on sub-wavelength foil acceleration is then evaluated for two concrete examples of ultra-intense laser pulses of picosecond and femtosecond duration.

physics.plasm-ph↗

CfA Plasma Talks

Notes from a series of 13 one hour (or more) lectures on Plasma Physics given to Ramesh Narayan' research group at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, between January and July 2012. Lectures 1 to 5 cover various key Plasma Physics themes. Lectures 6 to 12 mainly go over the Review Paper on "Multidimensional electron beam-plasma instabilities in the relativistic regime" [\emph{Physics of Plasmas} \textbf{17}, 120501 (2010)]. Lectures 13 talks about the so-called Biermann battery and its ability to generate magnetic fields from scratch.

astro-ph.HE↗

Rotation of Tokamak-Plasmas out of Mechanical Equilibria, in Absence of External Torques

Rotation of tokamak-plasmas, not at the mechanical equilibrium, is investigated utilizing a theorem of thermodynamics, established by Prigogine. This theorem, suitably applied to toroidally confined plasmas, suggests that the global barycentric rotations of the plasma, in the toroidal and poloidal directions, are pure reversible processes. In case of negligible viscosity and by supposing the validity of the balance equation for the internal forces, we show that the plasma, even not in the mechanical equilibrium, may freely rotate as a rigid body in the toroidal direction with an angular frequency with an angular frequency, which may be higher than the neoclassical estimation. In addition, its toroidal rotation may cause the plasma to rotate globally in the poloidal direction at a speed faster than the expression found by the neoclassical theory. The eventual configuration is attained when the toroidal and poloidal angular frequencies reaches the values that minimize dissipation.

physics.plasm-ph↗

How is the magnetic reconnection derived from magnetohydrodynamics equations?

We clarify how magnetic reconnection can be derived from magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations in a way that is easily understandable to university students. The essential mechanism governing the time evolution of the magnetic field is diffusion dynamics. The magnetic field is represented by two components. It is clarified that the diffusion of a component causes a generation of another component that is initially zero and, accordingly, that the magnetic force lines are reconnected. For this reconnection to occur correctly, the initial magnetic field must be directed oppositely in the two regions, e.g., $y>0$ and $y<0$; must be concave (convex) for $y>0$ ($y<0$); and must be saturated for $y$ far from the x axis, which would indicate the existence of the current sheet. It will be clear that our comprehension based on diffusion runs parallel to the common qualitative explanation about the magnetic reconnection.

physics.plasm-ph↗

Towards in-situ cleaning of a trapped ion quantum computer

A plasma glow discharge system was created using a conventional microwave oven to ignite and maintain the plasma. The system was used for plasma cleaning and its properties were analysed to assess its viability for removing surface contaminants, which cause anomalous heating, from Paul trap electrodes used in ion trapping. Qualitative results showed that the argon plasma could remove copper oxide layers formed on thin sheets in 1-2 minutes. The addition of air into the plasma system allowed for the cleaning of more complex hydrocarbon contaminants, as highlighted by the removal of permanent marker pen. The surface removal rate of the system was evaluated by measuring the time taken to remove gold plating from washers and aluminium plates. A nominal rate of 5-15 nm per min was found under optimal conditions. Plasma treatment, in addition to wet chemical cleaning, was found to increase the finesse of an optical cavity by a factor of two, compared to acetone cleaning alone. These results are promising for the system's in-situ use on Paul trap electrodes and could be a feasible technique for increasing their lifetime.

quant-ph↗

Using the X-FEL to understand X-ray Thomson scattering for partially ionized plasmas

For the last decade numerous researchers have been trying to develop experimental techniques to use X-ray Thomson scattering as a method to measure the temperature, electron density, and ionization state of high energy density plasmas such as those used in inertial confinement fusion. With the advent of the X-ray free electron laser (X-FEL) at the SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) we now have such a source available in the keV regime. One challenge with X-ray Thomson scattering experiments is understanding how to model the scattering for partially ionized plasmas. Most Thomson scattering codes used to model experimental data greatly simplify or neglect the contributions of the bound electrons to the scattered intensity. In this work we take the existing models of Thomson scattering that include elastic ion-ion scattering and the electron-electron plasmon scattering and add the contribution of the bound electrons in the partially ionized plasmas. Except for hydrogen plasmas almost every plasma that is studied today has bound electrons and it is important to understand their contribution to the Thomson scattering, especially as new X-ray sources such as the X-FEL will allow us to study much higher Z plasmas. Currently most experiments have looked at hydrogen or beryllium. We will first look at the bound electron contributions to beryllium by analysing existing experimental data. We then consider several higher Z materials such as Cr and predict the existence of additional peaks in the scattering spectrum that requires new computational tools to understand. For a Sn plasma we show that the bound contributions changes the shape of the scattered spectrum in a way that would change the plasma temperature and density inferred by the experiment.

physics.plasm-ph↗

Photon Plasma-Wave Interaction via Compton Scattering

The Kompaneets theory of photon kinetic evolution due to the Compton effect is extended to the case of the Vlasov plasma wave oscillations. Taking into account Zel'dovich-Levich's approximation we study interaction of accumulating photons with plasma in the long wavelength limit.

nlin.CD↗

A Nonlinear Dynamics Characterization of The Scrape-off Layer Plasma Fluctuations

A stochastic differential equation for the plasma density dynamics is derived, consistent with the experimentally measured distribution and the theoretical quadratic nonlinearity. The plasma density is driven by a multiplicative Wiener process and evolves on the turbulence correlation time scale, while the linear growth is quadratically damped by the fluctuation level. The sensitivity of intermittency to the nonlinear dynamics is investigated by analyzing the Langevin representation of two intermittent distributions, showing the agreement between the quadratic nonlinearity and the gamma distribution.

physics.plasm-ph↗

Efficient Non-Resonant Absorption in Thin Cylindrical Targets: Experimental Evidence for Longitudinal Geometry

Experiments provide a qualitative confirmation of significant absorption of a wide electromagnetic beam propagating along a thin conducting cylinder (the diameter of the cylinder can be orders of magnitude less than the beam waist width). This new physical effect can be used for numerous applications, such as pumping of active media of short-wavelength lasers and creation of low-density channels in the lower atmosphere.

physics.plasm-ph↗