A complete quasilinear model for the acceleration-driven lower hybrid drift instability and nonlinear Vlasov simulations that test its applicability

Pulsed power inertial confinement fusion experiments are subject to anomalous transport physics, which leads to parasitic currents and undermines predictive modeling. Characterizing anomalous resistivity and heating is challenging because existing theoretical models are not predictive and kinetic simulations are computationally costly. To address this challenge, a complete multi-species quasilinear model is developed for microturbulence driven by the lower hybrid drift instability in a collisionless accelerating magnetized plasma, like that found in pulsed power ExB systems. Unlike many applications of quasilinear theory, the model is complete in that it accounts for resonant and non-resonant interactions, and has self-consistent and numerically-solvable evolution equations for distribution functions, growth rates, and velocity-space diffusion coefficients. These important generalizations are facilitated by performing the analysis in a non-inertial frame of reference and deriving integral-form expressions for the dispersion relation and velocity space diffusion coefficients. The model is solved numerically and validated using fully nonlinear noise-free fourth-order accurate continuum kinetic simulations. The model is shown to capture aspects of nonlinear state conditions, including anomalous resistivity and heating, to within a scale factor of order unity. The results provide much needed vetting of quasilinear theory and set bounds on the theory's applicability.