Vlasov equation, waves and dispersion relations in fractal dimensions: Landau damping and the toroidal ion temperature gradient instability problem

Abstract

In this study, we have used the concept of ‘product-like fractal measure’ introduced by Li and Ostoja-Starzewski in their formulation of anisotropic and elastic media to introduce Vlasov equation in fractal dimension. We have been motivated by this new concept since it is safely applied to several systems with length scales bounded by lower and upper cutoffs via the dimensional regularization technique. We have considered through this study collisionless plasma in fractal dimension and we have analyzed the impacts of the Vlasov equation in some points in plasma physics starting from the Hamiltonian dynamics. Several results have been obtained and discussed accordingly. The main outcomes of the present study concern first the facts that waves in cold plasma are associated with low fractal dimensions and hence by low complexity and that the effective damping is affected by the sign of the fractal dimension and differs from the conventional Landau damping in magnitude and in sign for negative dimension. Besides, for a very low fractal dimension, the Landau damping is negligible or removed. This result was observed in kinetic turbulent plasmas and may solve the paradox problem emerging in the application of critical balance to a kinetic turbulence cascade.