Quantifying gyrotropy of proton-electron heating in turbulent plasmas
Presentation Type
Talk
Presenter Format
In Person Meeting Talk
Topic
Dayside Science
Start Date
10-5-2022 2:00 PM
Abstract
An important aspect of energy dissipation in weakly collisional plasmas is that of energy partitioning between different species. Instead of identifying specific models for this preferential heating, here we adopt pressure-strain interaction to quantify the fraction of isotropic compressive, gyrotropic and nongyrotropic heating for each species. Analysis of kinetic turbulence simulations is complemented by analogous observational results from the Magnetosphere Multiscale mission. In assessing how the two species (i.e., ions and electrons) respond to different parts of the pressure-strain interaction, we find that the local compressive heating for electrons is stronger than that for ions. Concerning the incompressive heating, the gyrotropic contribution for electrons is dominant over the nongyrotropic contribution, while for ions the nongyrotropic-to-gyrotropic heating is enhanced. These characterizations apply also to the level of gyrotropy of the respective velocity distribution functions.
Quantifying gyrotropy of proton-electron heating in turbulent plasmas
An important aspect of energy dissipation in weakly collisional plasmas is that of energy partitioning between different species. Instead of identifying specific models for this preferential heating, here we adopt pressure-strain interaction to quantify the fraction of isotropic compressive, gyrotropic and nongyrotropic heating for each species. Analysis of kinetic turbulence simulations is complemented by analogous observational results from the Magnetosphere Multiscale mission. In assessing how the two species (i.e., ions and electrons) respond to different parts of the pressure-strain interaction, we find that the local compressive heating for electrons is stronger than that for ions. Concerning the incompressive heating, the gyrotropic contribution for electrons is dominant over the nongyrotropic contribution, while for ions the nongyrotropic-to-gyrotropic heating is enhanced. These characterizations apply also to the level of gyrotropy of the respective velocity distribution functions.
