Gyrokinetic Particle Simulation of Kinetic Alfv\'en Wave Turbulence

POSTER

Abstract

The previous studies of spectral cascade in Alfv\'enic turbulence clearly show signs of plasma heating, and there are several highly-debated explanations to this phenomenon. We have developed a nonlinear gyrokinetic particle simulation to study the perpendicular spectral cascade caused by Landau damping of kinetic Alfv\'en wave, which is one of those possible heating mechanisms. The nonlinear gyrokinetic code includes scalar potential, vector potential, and compressional magnetic perturbation to form a complete, self-consistent nonlinear simulation. We will discuss the simulation results in comparison with earlier simulation without the compressional magnetic perturbation.

Authors

  • Onnie Luk

    University of California, Irvine

  • Xi Cheng

    University of California, Irvine, Univ. of California Irvine

  • Peter Porazik

    University of California, Irvine

  • Zhihong Lin

    University of California, Irvine, University of California Irvine, UCI, UC Irvine