Toward Astrophysical Turbulence in the Laboratory

Abstract

Turbulence is a ubiquitous phenomenon in space and astrophysical plasmas, driving a cascade of energy from large to small scales and strongly influencing the plasma heating resulting from the dissipation of the turbulence. Modern theories of plasma turbulence are based on the fundamental concept that the turbulent cascade of energy is caused by the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfven waves, yet this interaction has never been observationally or experimentally verified. We present here the first experimental measurement in a laboratory plasma of the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfven waves, the fundamental building block of astrophysical plasma turbulence. This measurement establishes a firm basis for the application of theoretical ideas developed in idealized models to turbulence in realistic space and astrophysical plasma systems.

5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

Cited by in corpus (22)

• Alfven Wave Collisions, The Fundamental Building Block of Plasma Turbulence I: Asymptotic Solution
• Predicted Impacts of Proton Temperature Anisotropy on Solar Wind Turbulence
• A Dynamical Model of Plasma Turbulence in the Solar Wind
• An Oscillating Langevin Antenna for Driving Plasma Turbulence Simulations
• Laboratory Space Physics: Investigating the Physics of Space Plasmas in the Laboratory
• Spatially Localized Particle Energization by Landau Damping in Current Sheets Produced by Strong Alfven Wave Collisions
• The Dynamical Generation of Current Sheets in Astrophysical Plasma Turbulence
• Observation of an Alfvén Wave Parametric Instability in a Laboratory Plasma
• Proton Heating in Solar Wind Compressible Turbulence with Collisions between Counter-propagating Waves
• The Inherently Three-Dimensional Nature of Magnetized Plasma Turbulence
• Alfven Wave Collisions, The Fundamental Building Block of Plasma Turbulence II: Numerical Solution
• Alfven Wave Collisions, The Fundamental Building Block of Plasma Turbulence IV: Laboratory Experiment
• The Importance of Electron Landau Damping for the Dissipation of Turbulent Energy in Terrestrial Magnetosheath Plasma
• Alfven Wave Collisions, The Fundamental Building Block of Plasma Turbulence III: Theory for Experimental Design
• Nonlinear energy transfer and current sheet development in localized Alfven wavepacket collisions in the strong turbulence limit
• The Velocity-Space Signature of Transit-Time Damping
• The Alfvenic nature of energy transfer mediation in localized, strongly nonlinear Alfven wavepacket collisions
• Star-Planet Interaction: Wave Structures and Wing-Wing Interaction
• The Development of Magnetic Field Line Wander by Plasma Turbulence
• Cross-scale energy transfer from fluid-scale Alfvén waves to kinetic-scale ion acoustic waves in the Earth's magnetopause boundary layer
• Characterization of fast magnetosonic waves driven by compact toroid plasma injection along a magnetic field
• Hybrid simulation of Alfvén wave parametric decay instability in a laboratory relevant plasma