Electrostatic Drift Research Articles

Electrons in regions of high phase density exhibit uncanny traits in the study of linear and nonlinear drift waves in spatially non-uniform magnetoplasmas

Linear and nonlinear waves are examined on the ion time scale in a spatially inhomogeneous plasma having electrons that follow product bi (r,q) distribution. It has been shown that the linear dispersion relation for product bi (r,q) distribution undergoes appreciable changes as opposed to the one for the Maxwellian electrons. It has been found that the drift wave frequency is highest for flat-topped distribution, whereas it is lowest for the spiky distribution. It has been found that the drift solitary wave with flat-topped distribution (i.e., r > 0) is one of a kind and exhibits peculiar characteristics. It has been shown that Maxwellian and kappa-like electrons cannot alter the nature of the electrostatic drift waves under consideration; however, the spiky electrons can. The results obtained here are general and can be applied to many regions of space plasmas where the satellite missions have reported the presence of electron distribution functions that show deviation from the Gaussian behavior.

Drift dust acoustic soliton in the presence of field-aligned sheared flow and nonextensivity effects

Low frequency electrostatic dust drift acoustic (DDA) waves are studied in an inhomogeneous dust magnetoplasma comprised of dust components of opposite polarity, Boltzmannian ions, and nonextensive distributed electrons. The magnetic-field-aligned dust sheared flow drives the electrostatic drift waves in the presence of ions and electrons. The sheared flow decreases or increases the frequency of the DDA wave, mostly depending on its polarity. The conditions of instability for this mode, with nonextensivity and dust streaming effects, are discussed. The nonlinear dynamics is then investigated for the DDA wave by deriving the Koeteweg-deVries (KdV) nonlinear equation. The KdV equation yields an electrostatic structure in the form of a DDA soliton. The relevancy of the work to laboratory four component dusty plasmas is illustrated.

Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations of an Ion Diffusion Region With Large Guide Field at the Magnetopause: Current System, Electron Heating, and Plasma Waves

AbstractWe report Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of a reconnecting current sheet in the presence of a weak density asymmetry with large guide field at the dayside magnetopause. An ion diffusion region (IDR) was detected associated with this current sheet. Parallel current dominated over the perpendicular current in the IDR, as found in previous studies of component reconnection. Electrons were preferentially heated parallel to the magnetic field within the IDR. The heating was manifested as a flattop distribution below 400 eV. Two types of electromagnetic electron whistler waves were observed within the regions where electrons were heated. One type of whistler wave was associated with nonlinear structures in E|| with amplitudes up to 20 mV/m. The other type was not associated with any structures in E||. Poynting fluxes of these two types of whistler waves were directed away from the X‐line. We suggest that the nonlinear evolution of the oblique whistler waves gave rise to the solitary structures in E||. There was a perpendicular super‐Alfvénic outflow jet that was carried by magnetized electrons. Intense electrostatic lower hybrid drift waves were localized in the current sheet center and were probably driven by the super‐Alfvénic electron jet, the velocity of which was approximately equal to the diamagnetic drift of demagnetized ions. Our observations suggest that the guide field significantly modified the structures (Hall electromagnetic fields and current system) and wave properties in the IDR.

Local gyrokinetic study of electrostatic microinstabilities in dipole plasmas

A linear gyrokinetic particle-in-cell scheme, which is valid for an arbitrary perpendicular wavelength k⊥ρi and includes the parallel dynamic along the field line, is developed to study the local electrostatic drift modes in point and ring dipole plasmas. We find that the most unstable mode in this system can be either the electron mode or the ion mode. The properties and relations of these modes are studied in detail as a function of k⊥ρi, the density gradient κn, the temperature gradient κT, electron to ion temperature ratio τ=Te/Ti, and mass ratio mi/me. For conventional weak gradient parameters, the mode is on the ground state (with eigenstate number l = 0) and especially k∥∼0 for small k⊥ρi. Thus, the bounce averaged dispersion relation is also derived for comparison. For strong gradient and large k⊥ρi, most interestingly, higher order eigenstate modes with even (e.g., l = 2, 4) or odd (e.g., l = 1) parity can be most unstable, which is not expected in the previous studies. High order eigenstate can also easily be most unstable at weak gradient when τ>10. This work can be particularly important to understand the turbulent transport in laboratory and space magnetosphere.

Formation of Nonlinear Solitary Vortical Structures by Coupled Electrostatic Drift and Ion-Acoustic Waves

Propagation of coupled electrostatic drift and ion-acoustic waves (DIAWs) is presented. It is shown that nonlinear solitary vortical structures can be formed by low-frequency coupled electrostatic DIAWs. Primary waves of distinct (small, intermediate and large) scales are considered. Appropriate set of 3D equations consisting of the generalized Hasegawa–Mima equation for the electrostatic potential (involving both vector and scalar nonlinearities) and the equation of motion of ions parallel to magnetic field are obtained. According to experiments of laboratory plasma mainly focused to large scale DIAWs, the possibility of self-organization of DIAWs into the nonlinear solitary vortical structures is shown analytically. Peculiarities of scalar nonlinearities in the formation of solitary vortical structures are widely discussed.

Fractal boundaries in chaotic hamiltonian systems

Fractal structures are typically present in the dynamics of chaotic orbits in non-integrable open Hamiltonian systems and result from the extremely complicated nature of the invariant manifolds of unstable periodic orbits. Exit basins, the set of initial conditions leading to orbits escaping through a given exit, have very frequently fractal boundaries. In this work we analyze exit basin boundaries in a dynamical system of physical interest, namely the motion of charged particles in a magnetized plasma subjected to electrostatic drift waves, and characterize in a quantitative way the fractality of these structures and their observable consequences, as the final-state uncertainty.

Linear and Nonlinear Coupling of Electrostatic Drift and Acoustic Perturbations in a Nonuniform Bi-Ion Plasma with Non-Maxwellian Electrons

Linear and nonlinear coupling of drift and ion acoustic waves are studied in a nonuniform magnetized plasma comprising of Oxygen and Hydrogen ions with nonthermal distribution of electrons. It has been observed that different ratios of ion number densities and kappa and Cairns distributed electrons significantly modify the linear dispersion characteristics of coupled drift-ion acoustic waves. In the nonlinear regime, KdV (for pure drift waves) and KP (for coupled drift-ion acoustic waves) like equations have been derived to study the nonlinear evolution of drift solitary waves in one and two dimensions. The dependence of drift solitary structures on different ratios of ion number densities and nonthermal distribution of electrons has also been explored in detail. It has been found that the ratio of the diamagnetic drift velocity to the velocity of the nonlinear structure determines the existence regimes for the drift solitary waves. The present investigation may be beneficial to understand the formation of solitons in the ionospheric F-region.

Comparisons and applications of four independent numerical approaches for linear gyrokinetic drift modes

To help reveal the complete picture of linear kinetic drift modes, four independent numerical approaches, based on the integral equation, Euler initial value simulation, Euler matrix eigenvalue solution, and Lagrangian particle simulation, respectively, are used to solve the linear gyrokinetic electrostatic drift mode equation in Z-pinch with slab simplification and in tokamak with a ballooning space coordinate. We identify that these approaches can yield the same solution with the difference smaller than 1%, and the discrepancies mainly come from the numerical convergence, which is the first detailed benchmark of four independent numerical approaches for gyrokinetic linear drift modes. Using these approaches, we find that the entropy mode and interchange mode are on the same branch in Z-pinch, and the entropy mode can have both electron and ion branches. And, at a strong gradient, more than one eigenstate of the ion temperature gradient mode (ITG) can be unstable and the most unstable one can be on non-ground eigenstates. The propagation of ITGs from ion to electron diamagnetic direction at strong gradient is also observed, which implies that the propagation direction is not a decisive criterion for the experimental diagnosis of turbulent mode at the edge plasmas.

Generation of zonal flows by coupled electrostatic drift and ion-acoustic waves

Generation of sheared zonal flow by low-frequency coupled electrostatic drift and ion-acoustic waves is presented. Primary waves of different (small, intermediate, and large) scales are considered, and the appropriate system of equations consisting of generalized Hasegawa-Mima equation for the electrostatic potential (involving both vector and scalar nonlinearities) and equation of parallel to magnetic field ions motion is obtained. It is shown that along with the mean poloidal flow with strong variation in minor radius mean sheared toroidal flow can also be generated. According to laboratory plasma experiments, main attention to large scale drift-ion-acoustic wave is given. Peculiarities of the Korteweg-de Vries type scalar nonlinearity due to the electrons temperature non-homogeneity in the formation of zonal flow by large-scale turbulence are widely discussed. Namely, it is observed that such type of flows need no generation condition and can be spontaneously excited.

Electrostatic drift instability in a magnetotail configuration: The role of bouncing electrons

To understand the possible destabilization of two-dimensional current sheets, a kinetic model is proposed to describe the resonant interaction between electrostatic modes and trapped electrons that bounce within the sheet. This work follows the initial investigation by Tur, Louarn, and Yanovsky [Phys. Plasmas 17, 102905 (2010)] and Fruit, Louarn, and Tur [Phys. Plasmas 20, 022113 (2013)] that is revised and extended. Using a quasi-dipolar equilibrium state, the linearized gyro-kinetic Vlasov equation is solved for electrostatic fluctuations with a period of the order of the electron bounce period. Using an appropriated Fourier expansion of the particle motion along the magnetic field, the complete time integration of the non-local perturbed distribution functions is performed. The dispersion relation for electrostatic modes is then obtained through the quasineutrality condition. It is found that for a mildly stretched configuration (L∼8), strongly unstable electrostatic modes may develop in the current sheet with the growth rate of the order of a few seconds provided that the background density gradient responsible for the diamagnetic drift effects is sharp enough: typical length scale over one Earth radius or less. However, when this condition in the density gradient is not met, these electrostatic modes grow too slowly to be accountable for a rapid destabilization of the magnetic structure. This strong but finely tuned instability may offer opportunities to explain features in magnetospheric substorms.

Coupled drift and ion-acoustic cnoidal waves in an inhomogeneous plasma with field-aligned shear flow

The coupled drift and ion-acoustic cnoidal wave structures in an inhomogeneous plasma with shear flow along the magnetic field lines are investigated. The linear analysis and instability condition of the electrostatic drift and ion acoustic waves with the shear flow is also presented. The Sagdeev potential approach is employed for studying nonlinear periodic wave structures. The analytical solutions of cnoidal wave and soliton structures for coupled drift and ion-acoustic waves in the presence of field-aligned shear flow are obtained. It is found that the shear flow along the magnetic field has a significant effect on the formation of cnoidal waves and solitons in inhomogeneous plasmas. The numerical results in phase plane portraits of cnoidal and soliton structures of coupled drift and ion-acoustic waves are agreed with the satellite observations of F-region ionosphere containing shear field-aligned flows.

Generation of electrostatic drift zonal flows under the action of mean sheared flows

Generation of large-scale zonal flows by the small-scale electrostatic drift wave turbulence in the magnetized plasma under the action of mean poloidal sheared flow is considered. Attention to large-scale (compared to the ion Larmor radius) drift structures is paid. To this end, the generalized Hasegawa-Mima equation containing both vector and scalar nonlinearities is derived, and the appropriate eigenvalue problem is solved numerically. Destabilizing role of the small amplitude mean shear flow and spatial inhomogeneity of electron temperature is shown.

Effect of resonant magnetic perturbations on microturbulence in DIII-D pedestal

Vacuum resonant magnetic perturbations (RMP) applied to otherwise axisymmetric tokamak plasmas produce in general a combination of non-resonant effects that preserve closed flux surfaces (kink response) and resonant effects that introduce magnetic islands and/or stochasticity (tearing response). The effect of the plasma kink response on the linear stability and nonlinear transport of edge turbulence is studied using the gyrokinetic toroidal code GTC for a DIII-D plasma with applied n = 2 vacuum RMP. GTC simulations use the 3D equilibrium of DIII-D discharge 158103 (Nazikian et al 2015 Phys. Rev. Lett. 114 105002), which is provided by nonlinear ideal MHD VMEC equilibrium solver in order to include the effect of the plasma kink response to the external field but to exclude island formation at rational surfaces. Analysis using the GTC simulation results reveal no increase of growth rates for the electrostatic drift wave instability and for the electromagnetic kinetic-ballooning mode in the presence of the plasma kink response to the RMP. Furthermore, nonlinear electrostatic simulations show that the effect of the 3D equilibrium on zonal flow damping is very weak and found to be insufficient to modify turbulent transport in the electrostatic turbulence.

Finite amplitude nonlinear drift waves in a spatially inhomogeneous degenerate plasma with Landau quantization and electron temperature corrections

In the present investigation, linear and nonlinear electrostatic drift waves in the presence of trapped electrons with quantizing magnetic field and finite electron temperature effects in dense plasmas have been studied. The linear dispersion relation of the ion drift wave has been derived and it has been found that the Landau quantization and finite temperature effects significantly alter the linear propagation characteristics of the wave under consideration. Employing the Sagdeev potential approach, the formation of finite amplitude drift solitary structures has been investigated in the presence of a quantizing magnetic field for both fully and partially degenerate plasmas. Both compressive and rarefactive drift solitary structures have been obtained for different values of quantizing magnetic field and finite electron temperature effects. The theoretical results obtained have been analyzed numerically for the parameters typically found in white dwarfs.

Radio-Frequency (rf) Confinement in Ion Mobility Spectrometry: Apparent Mobilities and Effective Temperatures.

Ion mobility is a powerful tool for separating and characterizing the structures of ions. Here, a radio-frequency (rf) confining drift cell is used to evaluate the drift times of ions over a broad range of drift field strengths (E/P, V cm-1 Torr-1). The presence of rf potentials radially confines ions and results in excellent ion transmission at low E/P (less than 1 V cm-1 Torr-1), thereby reducing the dependence of ion transmission on the applied drift voltage. Non-linear responses between drift time and reciprocal drift voltages are observed for extremely low E/P and high rf amplitudes. Under these conditions, pseudopotential wells generated by the rf potentials dampen the mobility of ions. The effective potential approximation is used to characterize this mobility dampening behavior, which can be mitigated by adjusting rf amplitudes and electrode dimensions. Using SIMION trajectories and statistical arguments, the effective temperatures of ions in an rf-confining drift cell are evaluated. Results for the doubly charged peptide GRGDS suggest that applied rf potentials can result in a subtle increase (2 K) in effective temperature compared to an electrostatic drift tube. Additionally, simulations of native-like ions of the protein complex avidin suggest that rf potentials have a negligible effect on the effective temperature of these ions. In general, the results of this study suggest that applied rf potentials enable the measurement of drift times at extremely low E/P and that these potentials have negligible effects on ion effective temperature. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Transient chaotic transport in dissipative drift motion

We investigate chaotic particle transport in magnetised plasmas with two electrostatic drift waves. Considering dissipation in the drift motion, we verify that the removed KAM surfaces originate periodic attractors with their corresponding basins of attraction. We show that the properties of the basins depend on the dissipation and the space-averaged escape time decays exponentially when the dissipation increases. We find positive finite time Lyapunov exponents in dissipative drift motion, consequently the trajectories exhibit transient chaotic transport. These features indicate how the transient plasma transport depends on the dissipation.

Drift waves and chaos in a LAPTAG plasma physics experiment

In a project involving an alliance between universities and high schools, a magnetized plasma column with a steep pressure gradient was established in an experimental device. A two-dimensional probe measured fluctuations in the plasma column in a plane transverse to the background magnetic field. Correlation techniques determined that the fluctuations were that of electrostatic drift waves. The time series data were used to generate the Bandt-Pompe entropy and Jensen-Shannon complexity for the data. These quantities, when plotted against one another, revealed that a combination of drift waves and other background fluctuations were a deterministically chaotic system. Our analysis can be used to tell the difference between deterministic chaos and random noise, making it a potentially useful technique in nonlinear dynamics.

Sheared Flow Driven Drift Instability and Vortices in Dusty Plasmas with Opposite Polarity

Low-frequency electrostatic drift waves are studied in an inhomogeneous dust magnetoplasma containing dust with components of opposite polarity. The drift waves are driven by the magnetic-field-aligned (parallel) sheared flows in the presence of electrons and ions. Due to sheared flow in the linear regime, the electrostatic dust drift waves become unstable. The conditions of mode instability, with the effects of dust streaming and opposite polarity, are studied. These are excited modes which gain large amplitudes and exhibit interactions among themselves. The interaction is governed by the Hasegawa-Mima (HM) nonlinear equation with vector nonlinearity. The stationary solutions of the HM equation in the form of a vortex chain and a dipolar vortex, including effects of dust polarity and electron (ion) temperatures, are studied. The relevance of the present work to space and laboratory four component dusty plasmas is noted.

Spectral properties of electrostatic drift wave turbulence in the laboratory and the ionosphere

Abstract. Low-frequency electrostatic drift wave turbulence has been studied in both laboratory plasmas and in space. The present review describes a number of such laboratory experiments together with results obtained by instrumented spacecraft in the Earth's near and distant ionospheres. The summary emphasizes readily measurable quantities, such as the turbulent power spectra for the fluctuations in plasma density, potential and electric fields. The agreement between power spectra measured in the laboratory and in space seems to be acceptable, but there are sufficiently frequent counterexamples to justify a future dedicated analysis, for instance by numerical tools, to explain deviations. When interpreting spectra at low ionospheric altitudes, it is necessary to give attention to the DC ionospheric electric fields and the differences in the physics of electron–ion collisions and collisions of charged particles with neutrals for cases with significant Hall drifts. These effects modify the drift wave spectra. A dedicated laboratory experiment accounted for some of these differences.

Modified Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation for a non-uniform electron–positron–ion magnetoplasma with kappa-distributed electrons

We investigate the low-frequency (by comparison with the ion Larmor frequency) electrostatic solitary structures in a spatially non-uniform electron–positron–ion (e–p–i) magnetoplasma with non-Maxwellian electrons. A linear dispersion relation for the obliquely propagating ion acoustic drift wave is derived and it is shown that the non-Maxwellian electron population modifies the dispersion characteristics of the wave under consideration. We also carry out a nonlinear analysis and derive the modified Zakharov–Kuznetsov (MZK) equation for the coupled drift acoustic wave in a non-uniform magnetized plasma. We highlight the differences between the MZK equation and its homogeneous counterpart. We also find the solution of the MZK equation using the tangent hyperbolic method. It is observed that the electron spectral index ${\it\kappa}$, positron concentration, and propagation angle ${\it\alpha}$ alter the structure of the ion acoustic drift solitary waves. The results obtained in this paper may be beneficial to understanding the propagation characteristics of electrostatic drift solitary structures in the interstellar medium and in laboratory experiments where electron–positron plasmas have recently been created by impinging ultra-intense laser pulses on a solid density target at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).