Electrostatic cross-field drift instabilities in the fluid and kinetic regimes

We present comparative two-fluid and fully kinetic analyses of electrostatic instabilities due to cross-field drift of electrons in magnetized plasmas, particularly the electron cyclotron drift instability (ECDI). Such instabilities could induce anomalous transport in Hall thrusters, provide effective dissipation across collisionless interplanetary shocks, and disrupt current sheets during the substorm onset in the Earth's magnetosphere, etc. We first discuss connections and discrepancies between the fluid and kinetic linear theories of these instabilities under different parameter regimes. Two-fluid and continuum fully-kinetic Vlasov simulations are performed to further understand the instabilities, using the Gkeyll code. The simulation work will focus on both the linear and non-linear stages of the evolution, the growth of anomalous transport, and role of turbulence and collisionless dissipation. Different parameters, particular those relevant to the X3 Hall thruster, will be used in order to investigate if such instabilities can explain anomalous transport, etc., measured in experiments.