2016/11/30 by Bogdan Teaca, Frank Jenko, Daniel Told · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cascade #Energy cascade #Gyrokinetics #Inertial frame of reference #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #K-omega turbulence model #Kinetic energy #Locality #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Nonlinear system #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Turbulence #Universality (dynamical systems) #physics.flu-dyn #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aa6998
published as 2017 New J. Phys. 19 045001
openalex publication_date 2017/03/28 · openalex created_date 2017/04/07 · arxiv created 2017/08/21 · arxiv updated 2017/08/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Using large resolution numerical simulations of gyrokinetic (GK) turbulence, spanning an interval ranging from the end of the fluid scales to the electron gyroradius, we study the energy transfers in the perpendicular direction for a proton–electron plasma in a slab equilibrium magnetic geometry. The plasma parameters employed here are relevant to kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence in solar wind conditions. In addition, we use an idealized test representation for the energy transfers between two scales, to aid our understanding of the diagnostics applicable to the nonlinear cascade in an infinite inertial range. For GK turbulence, a detailed analysis of nonlinear energy transfers that account for the separation of energy exchanging scales is performed. Starting from the study of the energy cascade and the scale locality problem, we show that the general nonlocal nature of GK turbulence, captured via locality functions, contains a subset of interactions that are deemed local, are scale invariant (i.e. a sign of asymptotic locality) and possess a locality exponent that can be recovered directly from measurements on the energy cascade. It is the first time that GK turbulence is shown to possess an asymptotic local component, even if the overall locality of interactions is nonlocal. The results presented here and their implications are discussed from the perspective of previous findings reported in the literature and the idea of universality of GK turbulence.