The physical foundations of energy dissipation and heating in weakly collisional plasmas are poorly understood. Here, we compare several measures largely used to characterize energy dissipation and kinetic-scale conversion in plasmas by means of a suite of kinetic numerical simulations describing both magnetic reconnection and decaying plasma turbulence. We differentiate between i) energy-based parameters, whose definition is related to energy transfer in a fluid description of the plasma, and ii) distribution function-based parameters, requiring knowledge of the particle velocity distribution function. Dissipation occurs close to regions of intense magnetic stresses. The distribution function-based measures show a broader width compared to energy-based proxies, suggesting that energy transfer is co-localized at coherent structures, but can affect the particle distribution function in wider regions. The effect of inter-particle collisions on these parameters is finally discussed.
Dissipation measures in weakly collisional plasmas
Pezzi O.; Liang H.; Juno J.L.; Cassak P.A.; Vasconez C.L.; Sorriso-Valvo L.; Perrone D., Servidio S.; Roytershteyn V.; Tenbarge J.M.; Matthaeus W.H.
ID | 465036 |
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PRODUCT TYPE | Proceeding Paper |
LAST UPDATE | 2023-05-16T15:51:17Z |