English

Oblate Electron Holes are not attributable to Anisotropic Shielding

Plasma Physics 2021-09-29 v1

Abstract

Shielding mechanisms' influence on the ratio of perpendicular to parallel scale lengths of multidimensional plasma electron hole equilibria are analyzed theoretically and computationally. It is shown that the ``gyrokinetic'' model, invoking perpendicular polarization, is based on a misunderstanding and cannot explain the observational trend that greater transverse extent accompanies lower magnetic field. Instead, the potential in the wings of the hole, outside the region of trapped-electron depletion, has isotropic shielding giving ϕer/L/r\phi\propto {\rm e}^{-r/L}/r, with the shielding length LL equal to the Debye length for holes much slower than the electron thermal speed. Particle in cell simulations confirm the analysis.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2011.14941,
  title  = {Oblate Electron Holes are not attributable to Anisotropic Shielding},
  author = {I H Hutchinson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.14941},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T20:36:23.646Z