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Register a new userMeasuring Collisionless Damping in Heliospheric Plasmas using Field-Particle Correlations
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An innovative field-particle correlation technique is proposed that uses single-point measurements of the electromagnetic fields and particle velocity distribution functions to investigate the net transfer of energy from fields to particles associated with the collisionless damping of turbulent fluctuations in weakly collisional plasmas, such as the solar wind. In addition to providing a direct estimate of the local rate of energy transfer between fields and particles, it provides vital new information about the distribution of that energy transfer in velocity space. This velocity-space signature can potentially be used to identify the dominant collisionless mechanism responsible for the damping of turbulent fluctuations in the solar wind. The application of this novel field-particle correlation technique is illustrated using the simplified case of the Landau damping of Langmuir waves in an electrostatic 1D-1V Vlasov-Poisson plasma, showing that the procedure both estimates the local rate of energy transfer from the electrostatic field to the electrons and indicates the resonant nature of this interaction. Modifications of the technique to enable single-point spacecraft measurements of fields and particles to diagnose the collisionless damping of turbulent fluctuations in the solar wind are discussed, yielding a method with the potential to transform our ability to maximize the scientific return from current and upcoming spacecraft missions, such as the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) and Solar Probe Plus missions.
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We apply field-particle correlations -- a technique that tracks the time-averaged velocity-space structure of the energy density transfer rate between electromagnetic fields and plasma particles -- to data drawn from a hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell simulation of Alfven Ion-Cyclotron turbulence. Energy transfer in this system is expected to include both Landau and cyclotron wave-particle resonances, unlike previous systems to which the field-particle correlation technique has been applied. In this simulation, the energy transfer rate mediated by the parallel electric field $E_parallel$ comprises approximately $60%$ of the total rate, with the remainder mediated by the perpendicular electric field $E_perp$. The parallel electric field resonantly couples to protons, with the canonical bipolar velocity-space signature of Landau damping identified at many points throughout the simulation. The energy transfer mediated by $E_perp$ preferentially couples to particles with $v_{tp} lesssim v_perp lesssim 3 v_{tp}$ in agreement with the expected formation of a cyclotron diffusion plateau. Our results demonstrate clearly that the field-particle correlation technique can distinguish distinct channels of energy transfer using single-point measurements, even at points in which multiple channels act simultaneously, and can be used to determine quantitatively the rates of particle energization in each channel.
Turbulence is ubiquitously observed in nearly collisionless heliospheric plasmas, including the solar wind and corona and the Earths magnetosphere. Understanding the collisionless mechanisms responsible for the energy transfer from the turbulent fluctuations to the particles is a frontier in kinetic turbulence research. Collisionless energy transfer from the turbulence to the particles can take place reversibly, resulting in non-thermal energy in the particle velocity distribution functions (VDFs) before eventual collisional thermalization is realized. Exploiting the information contained in the fluctuations in the VDFs is valuable. Here we apply a recently developed method based on VDFs, the field-particle correlation technique, to a $beta=1$, solar-wind-like, low-frequency Alfvenic turbulence simulation with well resolved phase space to identify the field-particle energy transfer in velocity space. The field-particle correlations reveal that the energy transfer, mediated by the parallel electric field, results in significant structuring of the ion and electron VDFs in the direction parallel to the magnetic field. Fourier modes representing the length scales between the ion and electron gyroradii show that energy transfer is resonant in nature, localized in velocity space to the Landau resonances for each Fourier mode. The energy transfer closely follows the Landau resonant velocities with varying perpendicular wavenumber $k_perp$ and plasma $beta$. This resonant signature, consistent with Landau damping, is observed in all diagnosed Fourier modes that cover the dissipation range of the simulation.
Using in situ data, accumulated in the turbulent magnetosheath by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission, we report a statistical study of magnetic field curvature and discuss its role in the turbulent space plasmas. Consistent with previous simulation results, the Probability Distribution Function (PDF) of the curvature is shown to have distinct power-law tails for both high and low value limits. We find that the magnetic-field-line curvature is intermittently distributed in space. High curvature values reside near weak magnetic-field regions, while low curvature values are correlated with small magnitude of the force acting normal to the field lines. A simple statistical treatment provides an explanation for the observed curvature distribution. This novel statistical characterization of magnetic curvature in space plasma provides a starting point for assessing, in a turbulence context, the applicability and impact of particle energization processes, such as curvature drift, that rely on this fundamental quantity.
How turbulent energy is dissipated in weakly collisional space and astrophysical plasmas is a major open question. Here, we present the application of a field-particle correlation technique to directly measure the transfer of energy between the turbulent electromagnetic field and electrons in the Earths magnetosheath, the region of solar wind downstream of the Earths bow shock. The measurement of the secular energy transfer from the parallel electric field as a function of electron velocity shows a signature consistent with Landau damping. This signature is coherent over time, close to the predicted resonant velocity, similar to that seen in kinetic Alfven turbulence simulations, and disappears under phase randomisation. This suggests that electron Landau damping could play a significant role in turbulent plasma heating, and that the technique is a valuable tool for determining the particle energisation processes operating in space and astrophysical plasmas.
Both kinetic instabilities and strong turbulence have potential to impact the behavior of space plasmas. To assess effects of these two processes we compare results from a 3 dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of collisionless plasma turbulence against observations by the MMS spacecraft in the terrestrial magnetosheath and by the Wind spacecraft in the solar wind. The simulation develops coherent structures and anisotropic ion velocity distributions that can drive micro-instabilities. Temperature-anisotropy driven instability growth rates are compared with inverse nonlinear turbulence time scales. Large growth rates occur near coherent structures; nevertheless linear growth rates are, on average, substantially less than the corresponding nonlinear rates. This result casts some doubt on the usual basis for employing linear instability theory, and raises questions as to why the linear theory appears to work in limiting plasma excursions in anisotropy and plasma beta.
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