Effect of ambient density fluctuations on Langmuir wave collapse and strong turbulence

Abstract

The effect of ambient density fluctuations on Langmuir wave collapse and strong Langmuir turbulence is investigated. Hamiltonian analysis of the collapse threshold implies that fluctuations with scales near those of nucleating wave packets can disrupt them before they can accumulate enough energy to collapse, provided the ambient fluctuation level is greater than that generated ponderomotively by the Langmuir waves. If packet disruption is effective, Langmuir energy cannot be dissipated via wave collapse and burnout, but must be scattered off density fluctuations directly to high wave numbers, as predicted by previous analyses. Numerical simulations of strong Langmuir turbulence confirm these predictions, with sudden transitions occurring from a strong-turbulence regime to one dominated by scattering or one with relatively rare wave collapses as a result of disruption of nascent wave packets. A corresponding sudden drop in Langmuir energy density is observed. Simulations of individual wave packets near the threshold for collapse show that such packets are easily disrupted by fluctuations with wavelengths near their linear scale, and confirm previous analytic disruption criteria.