Structure of Plasma Heating in Gyrokinetic Alfvénic Turbulence

Alejandro Bañón Navarro, Bogdan Teaca, Daniel Told, Daniel Groselj, Paul Crandall, and Frank Jenko
Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 245101 – Published 7 December 2016
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

We analyze plasma heating in weakly collisional kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence using high resolution gyrokinetic simulations spanning the range of scales between the ion and the electron gyroradii. Real space structures that have a higher than average heating rate are shown not to be confined to current sheets. This novel result is at odds with previous studies, which use the electromagnetic work in the local electron fluid frame, i.e., J·(E+ve×B), as a proxy for turbulent dissipation to argue that heating follows the intermittent spatial structure of the electric current. Furthermore, we show that electrons are dominated by parallel heating while the ions prefer the perpendicular heating route. We comment on the implications of the results presented here.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 25 July 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.245101

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Plasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Alejandro Bañón Navarro1,*, Bogdan Teaca2,†, Daniel Told1, Daniel Groselj1,3, Paul Crandall1, and Frank Jenko1

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, 475 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA
  • 2Applied Mathematics Research Centre, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, United Kingdom
  • 3Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstraße 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany

  • *banon@physics.ucla.edu
  • bogdan.teaca@coventry.ac.uk

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 117, Iss. 24 — 9 December 2016

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
CHORUS

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×