Bridging hybrid- and full-kinetic models with Landau-fluid electrons: I. 2D magnetic reconnection

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection (MR) plays a fundamental role in plasma dynamics under many different conditions, from space and astrophysical environments to laboratory devices. High-resolution in-situ measurements from space missions allow to study naturally occurring MR processes in great detail. Alongside direct measurements, numerical simulations play a key role in investigating the fundamental physics underlying MR. The choice of an adequate plasma model to be employed in numerical simulations, while also compromising with their computational cost, is crucial to efficiently address the problem. We consider a new plasma model that includes a refined electron response within the hybrid-kinetic framework (kinetic ions, fluid electrons). The extent to which this new model can reproduce a full-kinetic description of 2D MR, with particular focus on its robustness during the non-linear stage, is evaluated. We perform 2D simulations of MR with moderate guide field by means of three different plasma models: a hybrid-Vlasov-Maxwell model with isotropic, isothermal electrons, a hybrid-Vlasov-Landau-fluid (HVLF) model where an anisotropic electron fluid is equipped with a Landau-fluid closure, and a full-kinetic one. When compared to the full-kinetic case, the HVLF model effectively reproduces the main features of MR, as well as several aspects of the associated electron micro-physics and its feedback onto proton dynamics. This includes the global evolution of MR and the local physics occurring within the so-called electron-diffusion region, as well as the evolution of species pressure anisotropy. In particular, anisotropy driven instabilities (such as firehose, mirror, and cyclotron instabilities) play a relevant role in regulating electrons anisotropy during the non-linear stage of MR. As expected, the HVLF model captures all these features, except for the electron-cyclotron instability.

arXiv comment15 pages, 7 figure

References in corpus (34)

• Magnetic fluctuation power near proton temperature anisotropy instability thresholds in the solar wind
• Firehose and Mirror Instabilities in a Collisionless Shearing Plasma
• Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Plasma Turbulence
• Shearing Box Simulations of the MRI in a Collisionless Plasma
• Statistical Analysis of Current Sheets in Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
• A Review of the 0.1 Reconnection Rate Problem
• Magnetic reconnection as a driver for a sub-ion scale cascade in plasma turbulence
• A thermally stable heating mechanism for the intracluster medium: turbulence, magnetic fields and plasma instabilities
• Gyrokinetic turbulence: a nonlinear route to dissipation through phase space
• Cosmic-ray-induced filamentation instability in collisionless shocks
• Dual phase-space cascades in 3D hybrid-Vlasov-Maxwell turbulence
• Fully kinetic versus reduced-kinetic modelling of collisionless plasma turbulence
• Magnetic field amplification and evolution in turbulent collisionless MHD: an application to the ICM
• Turbulent dynamo in a collisionless plasma
• Nonlinear evolution of the magnetized Kelvin-Helmholtz instability: from fluid to kinetic modeling
• An introductory guide to fluid models with anisotropic temperatures Part 1 -- CGL description and collisionless fluid hierarchy
• Fluctuation Dynamo in a Collisionless, Weakly Magnetized Plasma
• Kinetic plasma turbulence: recent insights and open questions from 3D3V simulations
• Plasma turbulence at ion scales: a comparison between PIC and Eulerian hybrid-kinetic approaches
• Fluctuation dynamo in a weakly collisional plasma
• An introductory guide to fluid models with anisotropic temperatures Part 2 -- Kinetic theory, Padé approximants and Landau fluid closures
• Electron mirror instability: Particle-in-cell simulations
• A Generalized Flux Function for Three-dimensional Magnetic Reconnection
• The Electron Firehose and Ordinary-Mode Instabilities in Space Plasmas
• Kinetic turbulence in fast 3D collisionless guide-field magnetic reconnection
• Neutral Vlasov kinetic theory of magnetized plasmas
• Turbulence vs. fire hose instabilities: 3-D hybrid expanding box simulations
• A new hybrid code (CHIEF) implementing the inertial electron fluid equation without approximation
• Hybrid simulation of a parallel collisionless shock in the Large Plasma Device
• Comparative study of gyrokinetic, hybrid-kinetic and fully kinetic wave physics for space plasmas
• Exact Vlasov-Maxwell equilibria for asymmetric current sheets
• Oblique tearing mode instability: guide field and Hall effect
• Space-filter techniques for quasi-neutral hybrid-kinetic models
• Comparison of linear modes in kinetic plasma models

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Electron dynamics in small magnetospheres: insights from global fully-kinetic plasma simulations of planet Mercury
• Hamiltonian kinetic-Hall Magnetohydrodynamics with fluid and kinetic ions in the current and pressure coupling schemes
• The muphyII Code: Multiphysics Plasma Simulation on Large HPC Systems
• Preferential acceleration of heavy ions in magnetic reconnection: Hybrid-kinetic simulations with electron inertia
• Turbulent heating in collisionless low-beta plasmas: imbalance, Landau damping, and electron-ion energy partition
• Electron neural closure for turbulent magnetosheath simulations: energy channels
• Electron Heat Flux and Whistler Instability in the Earth's Magnetosheath
• The Machine Learning Approach to Moment Closure Relations for Plasma: A Review