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Beta Dependence of Kinetic Plasma Turbulence and Reconnection Across Scales
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  • Subash Adhikari,
  • Michael Shay,
  • William Matthaeus,
  • Tulasi Parashar
Subash Adhikari
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Michael Shay
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware
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William Matthaeus
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware
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Tulasi Parashar
Victoria University of Wellington, Victoria University of Wellington
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Abstract

Plasma beta is an important parameter characterizing dynamics of various systems such as the solar wind, planetary magnetospheres, and accretion disks. Dependence of some plasma properties such as spectral break, relative proton-electron heating, and intermittency has been studied using observations as well as simulations [1,2,3]. In this study, we use particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of turbulence to study various, yet unexplored, aspects of this beta variation. We analyze kinetic range electric fields, the variation of scale-to-scale energy transfer, and higher order statistics with respect to plasma beta. Systematic trends in the behavior of various quantities are discussed, and their implications for kinetic plasma dissipation are examined. Finally, we extend this approach to laminar reconnection, which shows turbulence like properties of magnetic spectrum and energy cascade [4,5]. References: Chen, et. al., Geophy. Res. Lett. 41.22 (2014); (https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062009) Franci, et. al., ApJ 833 91 (2016); (https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/833/1/91) Parashar, et. al., ApJ Lett. 864 L21 (2018);(https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aadb8b ) Adhikari, et. al., Phys. of Plasmas 27,042305 (2020); (https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5128376) Adhikari, et. al.(2021); (arXiv:2104.12013)