Kinetic effects on robustness of electron magnetohydrodynamic structures

Abstract

Following recent remarkable progress in the development of high-power short-pulse lasers, exploration is ongoing into hitherto unknown phenomena at fast time scales of electrons, the understanding of which is becoming crucial. For a simplified description of such phenomena, the Electron Magnetohydrodynamics (EMHDs) fluid description is often adopted. For the possibility of electron transport in high-density plasma, exact solutions of the EMHD model in the form of electron vortex currents, together with their associated magnetic fields, have been considered. However, the fluid EMHD model does not incorporate kinetic effects. Here, the finite Larmor radius effects owing to a finite electron temperature on the robustness of the exact EMHD structures are investigated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that larger EMHD vortex structures can sustain themselves for long periods, even in high temperature plasma; however, sustaining structures at higher temperatures tends to be difficult. With increasing temperature, electrons with finite Larmor radii become disengaged from the localized region. It is also shown that structures localized in smaller regions are more difficult to sustain. A quantitative criterion in terms of the structure size and Larmor radius has been established by simulations over a wide range of parameters. Finally, we conclude that a structure, larger than about eight times the typical Larmor radius at r=R, could form and exist even under the effects of finite electron temperature.