Transition from MHD to kinetic behavior in turbulent plasmas.

Tulasi N Parashar1, Prof. William H Matthaeus2, Michael A Shay2 and Minping Wan3, (1)University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United States, (2)University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Newark, DE, United States, (3)University of Delaware, Newark, United States
Abstract:
An important consideration for the Turbulent Dissipation Challenge is the initialization of turbulent kinetic plasma simulations. Traditionally it is believed that the MHD initial conditions are not applicable at the kinetic scales of a plasma. We present results from an ensemble of Particle In Cell (PIC) simulations and explore the transition from MHD scales to kinetic scales. We find that certain aspects of MHD like behavior might persist to scales smaller than traditionally expected. Implications for the initial conditions for step two of the challenge are discussed.
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