Continuum kinetic simulations of stochastic heating in low collisionality plasmas

The effect of stochastic heating in plasma is important in understanding the heating of the solar corona and the solar wind. With the coming launch of the Parker Solar Probe Plus that will gather unprecedented data of the solar wind and corona, further theoretical investigation of stochastic heating processes is desired to compare with experimental data. In this study we use the continuum code Gkeyll to solve the Vlasov-Maxwell equations for the evolution of a plasma distribution function. Using a continuum solver avoids numerical issues such as particle noise characteristic of traditional particle-in-cell methods. We investigate the evolution of a distribution function in different electromagnetic (EM) field configurations such as those observed in solar wind conditions. In addition to test particle simulations, we will compare to distributions evolved self-consistently, such that the particle motion feeds back to the seed EM field, and including particle collision effects. Energy transfer from fields to particles will be studied to determine the extent to which stochastic motion of particles leads to particle heating.