Aspects of Anomalous Transport in Plasmas

Aspects of Anomalous Transport in Plasmas
Author: Radu Balescu
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2005-04-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781420034684

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Anomalous transport is a ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical, geophysical and laboratory plasmas; and is a key topic in controlled nuclear fusion research. Despite its fundamental importance and ongoing research interest, a full understanding of anomalous transport in plasmas is still incomplete, due to the complexity of the nonlinear phenomena involved. Aspects in Anomalous Transport in Plasmas is the first book to systematically consider anomalous plasma transport theory and provides a unification of the many theoretical models by emphasizing interrelations between seemingly different methodologies. It is not intended as a catalogue of the vast number of plasma instabilities leading to anomalous transport; instead it chooses a number of these and emphasizes the aspects specifically due to turbulence. After a brief introduction, the microscopic theory of turbulence is discussed, including quasilinear theory and various aspects of renormalization methods, which leads to an understanding of resonance broadening, mode coupling, trajectory correlation and clumps. The second half of the book is devoted to stochiastic tramsport, using methods based on the Langevin equations and on Random Walk theory. This treatment aims at going beyond the traditional limits of weak turbulence, by introducing the recently developed method of decorrelation trajectories, and its application to electrostatic turbulence, magnetic turbulence and zonal flow generation. The final chapter includes very recent work on the nonlocal transport phenomenon.

Anomalous Transport Coefficients Due to the Ion-Ion Two-Stream Plasma Microinstability

Anomalous Transport Coefficients Due to the Ion-Ion Two-Stream Plasma Microinstability
Author: Robert C. Backstrom
Publisher:
Total Pages: 186
Release: 1978
Genre:
ISBN:

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Improved calculations of the anomalous transport coefficients due to the ion-ion two-stream plasma instability are presented. The coefficients describe the transfer of momentum and energy between the ion species by the electric fields generated by unstable waves. The calculations use electrostatic quasilinear theory in two dimensions to trace the time evolutions of the two ion species. The evolutions are continued until the transport coefficients reach their maximum values. The evolutions are done for homogeneous plasmas with warm ion beams and a single hot electron background distribution. The electrons may or may not be magnetized by a uniform magnetic field perpendicular to the ion streaming motion. The results of the evolutions indicate that a fair amount of momentum transfer from the debris to the air occurs when the relative velocity between them is less than the characteristic wave phase velocity of the plasma, the ion acoustic speed or the Alfven speed (respectively for unmagnetized or magnetized electrons). On the other hand, little transfer occurs when the relative velocity is higher than the characteristic speed. (Author).

Plasma Instabilities and Transport in the MPD Thruster

Plasma Instabilities and Transport in the MPD Thruster
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 53
Release: 1993
Genre:
ISBN:

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This study deals with the development and testing of anomalous (turbulent) transport coefficient models that include the effects of plasma turbulence and that can be used in plasma fluid codes for more realistic numerical simulations. The anomalous transport models were derived using a kinetic description of microinstabilities in the MPD thruster plasma. Nonlinear plasma theory was used under the valid approximation of weak turbulence and the resulting transport models were studied in detail. A strong dependence of anomalous transport on the electron Hall parameter was found. The models were then reduced to a set of compact polynomials ideally suited for inclusion in fluid codes. The usefulness and importance of these models were demonstrated by including them in an advanced plasma fluid code and carrying numerical simulations of realistic MPD thruster flows. The results show the impact of turbulence on various aspects of dissipation in the thruster as well as on the overall propulsive efficiency. Fluid codes that include these models are more accurate engineering tools for the design and study of high efficiency plasma thrusters.