Phase mixing of shear Alfvén waves as a new mechanism for electron acceleration in collisionless, kinetic plasmas

Tsiklauri, D; Sakai, J-I; Saito, S

Abstract

Particle-in-cell (kinetic) simulations of shear Alfv´en wave (AW) interaction with one-dimensional, across the uniform-magnetic field, density inhomogeneity (phase mixing) in collisionless plasma were performed for the first time. As a result, a new electron acceleration mechanism is discovered. Progressive distortion of the AW front, due to the differences in local Alfv´en speed, generates electrostatic fields nearly parallel to the magnetic field, which accelerate electrons via Landau damping. Surprisingly, the amplitude decay law in the inhomogeneous regions, in the kinetic regime, is the same as in the MHD approximation described by Heyvaerts and Priest (1983 Astron. Astrophys. 117 220).

Citation

Tsiklauri, D., Sakai, J.-I., & Saito, S. (2005). Phase mixing of shear Alfvén waves as a new mechanism for electron acceleration in collisionless, kinetic plasmas. New Journal of Physics, 7, 79. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/7/1/079

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 15, 2005
• Deposit Date: Oct 22, 2007
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 22, 2007
• Journal: New Journal of Physics
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Pages: 79
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/7/1/079
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/7/1/079
• Related Public URLs: http://www.iop.org/; http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/NJP