ISSN:
1089-7674
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Nonlinear evolution of current-driven instabilities and associated energy transport among different particle species are studied by means of a two-dimensional, electrostatic, particle simulation code with full ion and electron dynamics. The plasma is assumed to consist of hydrogen (H) and helium (He) ions and electrons with the electron temperature larger than the ion temperatures; the electrons drift along a uniform magnetic field with an initial speed equal to the thermal speed. Then, simulations show that after the development of ion acoustic waves and fundamental H cyclotron waves, second harmonic waves are destabilized due to the change in the electron velocity distribution function parallel to the magnetic field, fe(v(parallel)). Even though the linear theory based on the initial conditions predicts that the second harmonics are only marginally unstable, they eventually grow to the largest amplitudes and heat He ions more significantly than H ions. The instabilities of these three kinds of modes with different phase velocities give rise to flattening of fe(v(parallel)) over a region larger than the thermal speed. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1321017
