Two-dimensional gyrokinetic turbulence

DOI10.1017/S002211201000371XzbMATH Open1221.76108arXiv0904.0243OpenAlexW3104179923MaRDI QIDQ3173363FDOQ3173363

Steven Cowley, Gabriel G. Plunk, Tomoya Tatsuno, Alexander A. Schekochihin

Publication date: 27 September 2011

Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Two-dimensional gyrokinetics is a simple paradigm for the study of kinetic magnetised plasma turbulence. In this paper, we present a comprehensive theoretical framework for this turbulence. We study both the inverse and direct cascades (the `dual cascade'), driven by a homogeneous and isotropic random forcing. The key characteristic length of gyrokinetics, the Larmor radius, divides scales into two physically distinct ranges. For scales larger than the Larmor radius, we derive the familiar Charney--Hasegawa--Mima (CHM) equation from the gyrokinetic system, and explain its relationship to gyrokinetics. At scales smaller than the Larmor radius, a dual cascade occurs in phase space (two dimensions in position space plus one dimension in velocity space) via a nonlinear phase-mixing process. We show that at these sub-Larmor scales, the turbulence is self-similar and exhibits power law spectra in position and velocity space. We propose a Hankel-transform formalism to characterise velocity-space spectra. We derive the exact relations for third-order structure functions, analogous to Kolmogorov's four-fifths and Yaglom's four-thirds laws and valid at both long and short wavelengths. We show how the general gyrokinetic invariants are related to the particular invariants that control the dual cascade in the long- and short-wavelength limits. We describe the full range of cascades from the fluid to the fully kinetic range.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0904.0243

zbMATH Keywords

kinetic theoryplasmasturbulence theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Turbulence (76F99) Ionized gas flow in electromagnetic fields; plasmic flow (76X05)

Cites Work

• Small-scale variation of convected quantities like temperature in turbulent fluid Part 1. General discussion and the case of small conductivity
• Foundations of nonlinear gyrokinetic theory
• Nonlinear gyrokinetic equations for low-frequency electromagnetic waves in general plasma equilibria
• Computation of the Energy Spectrum in Homogeneous Two-Dimensional Turbulence
• Pseudo-three-dimensional turbulence in magnetized nonuniform plasma
• Kinetic equations for low frequency instabilities in inhomogeneous plasmas
• Diffusion of a passive scalar in two-dimensional turbulence
• Title not available (Why is that?)

Cited In (4)

• A hybrid gyrokinetic ion and isothermal electron fluid code for astrophysical plasma
• Considering fluctuation energy as a measure of gyrokinetic turbulence
• The H-theorem for the entropy of waves
• Two-point theory of current-driven, ion-cyclotron turbulence

This page was built for publication: Two-dimensional gyrokinetic turbulence

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q3173363)