2013/06/06 by Kevin D. Nielson, Kevin Nielson, Gregory G. Howes +3 · 41 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Alfvén wave #Classical mechanics #Compressibility #Computational physics #Gyrokinetics #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #K-epsilon turbulence model #K-omega turbulence model #Limit (mathematics) #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence #Magnetohydrodynamics #Mathematical analysis #Mechanics #Nonlinear system #Physics #Plasma #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Tokamak #Turbulence #Wave turbulence #astro-ph.SR #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.4812807
published in Physics of Plasmas 20(7) (American Institute of Physics) · 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Physics of Plasmas
arxiv created 2013/06/06 · openalex publication_date 2013/07/01 · arxiv updated 2015/06/16 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
This paper presents the numerical verification of an asymptotic analytical solution for the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfvén waves, the fundamental building block of astrophysical plasma turbulence. The analytical solution, derived in the weak turbulence limit using the equations of incompressible MHD, is compared to a nonlinear gyrokinetic simulation of an Alfvén wave collision. The agreement between these methods signifies that the incompressible solution satisfactorily describes the essential dynamics of the nonlinear energy transfer, even under the weakly collisional plasma conditions relevant to many astrophysical environments.