Related papers: Kinetic Electron Cooling in Magnetic Nozzles: Expe…
Collisionless shocks are common features in space and astrophysical systems where supersonic plasma flows interact, such as in the solar wind, the heliopause, and supernova remnants. Recent experimental capabilities and diagnostics allow…
We perform fully-kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of an hot plasma that expands radially in a cylindrical geometry. The aim of the paper is to study the consequent development of the electron temperature anisotropy in an expanding…
The collisionless expansion of spherical plasmas composed of cold ions and hot electrons is analyzed using a novel kinetic model, with special emphasis on the influence of the electron dynamics. Simple, general laws are found, relating the…
Electron heating in an ultracold neutral plasma is modeled using classical molecular dynamics simulations in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. A sufficiently strong magnetic field is found to reduce disorder induced…
Electrical conductivity of finite-temperature plasma in neutron star crusts is studied for applications in magneto-hydrodynamical description of compact stars. We solve the Boltzmann kinetic equation in relaxation time approximation taking…
We present 3D fully kinetic shearing-box simulations of pair-plasma magnetorotational turbulence with unprecedented macro-to-microscopic scale separation. While retrieving the expected fluid behavior of the plasma at large scales, we…
The possibility of studying non-thermal electron energization in laser-driven plasma experiments of magnetic reconnection is studied using two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is demonstrated that non-thermal…
We consider the process of cooling of a heavy particle beam in a co-moving electron beam of low temperature guided by a solenoidal magnetic field. This paper summarizes the main results of theoretical studies of this process conducted by…
We present a drift kinetic model for the free expansion of a thermal plasma out of a magnetic nozzle. This problem relates to plasma space propulsion systems, natural environments such as the solar wind, and end losses from the expander…
In a grid-less Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasma thruster with a diverging magnetic nozzle, the magnitude of the ambipolar field accelerating the positive ions depends of the perpendicular energy gained by the electrons. This work…
We discuss electron acceleration and heating during collisionless magnetic reconnection by using the results of implicit kinetic simulations of Harris current sheets. We consider and compare electron dynamics in plasmas with different \beta…
We have used the free expansion of ultracold neutral plasmas as a time-resolved probe of electron temperature. A combination of experimental measurements of the ion expansion velocity and numerical simulations characterize the crossover…
Turbulence is often invoked to explain the origin of nonthermal particles in space and astrophysical plasmas. By means of 3D fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate that turbulence in low-$\beta$ plasmas ($\beta$ is the…
Charge separation effects in the expansion of magnetized relativistic electron-ion plasmas into a vacuum are examined using 2-1/2-dimensional particle-in-cell plasma simulations. The electrostatic field at the plasma surface decelerates…
Plasma flow and acceleration in a magnetic mirror configuration are studied using a drift-kinetic particles-in-cell model in the paraxial approximation, with an emphasis on finite temperature effects and energy transport. Energy conversion…
We have performed hybrid kinetic-fluid simulations of a positive column in AC Argon discharges over a range of driving frequencies f and gas pressure p for the conditions when the spatial nonlocality of the Electron Energy Distribution…
We study the physics of electron acceleration at collisionless shocks that move through a plasma containing large-scale magnetic fluctuations. We numerically integrate the trajectories of a large number of electrons, which are treated as…
Electron dynamics and energization are one of the key components of magnetic field dissipation in collisionless reconnection. In 2D numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection, the main mechanism that limits the current density and…
The kinetic effects of electrons are important to long wavelength magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)instabilities and short wavelength drift-Alfvenic instabilities responsible for turbulence transport in magnetized plasmas, since the non-adiabatic…
Thermal quench of a nearly collisionless plasma against a cooling boundary or region is an undesirable off-normal event in magnetic fusion experiments, but an ubiquitous process of cosmological importance in astrophysical plasmas. There is…