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Electron-scale reduced fluid models with gyroviscous effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2017

T. Passot*
Affiliation:
Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Laboratoire J.L. Lagrange, Boulevard de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice CEDEX 4, France
P. L. Sulem
Affiliation:
Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Laboratoire J.L. Lagrange, Boulevard de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice CEDEX 4, France
E. Tassi
Affiliation:
Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Toulon, CNRS, CPT, Marseille, France
*
†Email address for correspondence: passot@oca.eu
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Abstract

Reduced fluid models for collisionless plasmas including electron inertia and finite Larmor radius corrections are derived for scales ranging from the ion to the electron gyroradii. Based either on pressure balance or on the incompressibility of the electron fluid, they respectively capture kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) or whistler waves (WWs), and can provide suitable tools for reconnection and turbulence studies. Both isothermal regimes and Landau fluid closures permitting anisotropic pressure fluctuations are considered. For small values of the electron beta parameter $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}$ , a perturbative computation of the gyroviscous force valid at scales comparable to the electron inertial length is performed at order $O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e})$ , which requires second-order contributions in a scale expansion. Comparisons with kinetic theory are performed in the linear regime. The spectrum of transverse magnetic fluctuations for strong and weak turbulence energy cascades is also phenomenologically predicted for both types of waves. In the case of moderate ion to electron temperature ratio, a new regime of KAW turbulence at scales smaller than the electron inertial length is obtained, where the magnetic energy spectrum decays like $k_{\bot }^{-13/3}$ , thus faster than the $k_{\bot }^{-11/3}$ spectrum of WW turbulence.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 
Figure 0

Figure 1. $\text{Re}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714})/k_{z}$ (solid line) and $-\text{Im}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714})/k_{z}$ (dashed line) from kinetic theory (in dark blue) and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}/k_{z}$ from the two-field model (thick red line) for KAWs at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}=0.001$ (a,c,e) for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=1$ (a), $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=5$ (c) and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=50$ (e), and at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}=0.1$ (b,d,f) for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=0.2$ (b), $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=1$ (d) and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=5$ (f).

Figure 1

Figure 2. (a) Frequencies (solid) and damping rates (dashed) at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}=0.01$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=8$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}_{\boldsymbol{k}\boldsymbol{B}}=82^{\circ }$ for an Alfvén wave (red), a fast wave ending in the first Bernstein mode (blue) and in the second one (brown) and for the whistler wave (green) continuing to small scale (see right in red dotted line). (b) $\text{Re}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714})/k_{z}$ (solid lines) and $-\text{Im}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714})/k_{z}$ (dashed lines) from kinetic theory for whistlers at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}=0.01$ for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=0.2$ (dark blue), $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=1$ (brown), $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=5$ (green) and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=8$ (red dotted) and ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}/k_{z}$ from the two-field model (thick black line).

Figure 2

Figure 3. (a) Electron density fluctuations for whistlers at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}_{\boldsymbol{k}\boldsymbol{B}}=82^{\circ }$ (dark blue) and KAWs at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}_{\boldsymbol{k}\boldsymbol{B}}=89.99^{\circ }$ (red) for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}=0.01$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=5$. (b) $\text{Re}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714})/k_{z}$ for a KAW at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}=0.0001$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=1$, from kinetic theory (in dark blue) and frequency from various two-field models: from (6.1) (thick red line), from the model of Zocco & Schekochihin (2011) taken in the isothermal limit (dashed black line), and from an extension of the current model using the improved relation between $n$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}$ given by (5.21) (green dotted line). The dark blue dashed line displays $-\text{Im}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714})/k_{z}$.

Figure 3

Figure 4. $\text{Re}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714})/k_{z}$ (solid lines) and $-\text{Im}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714})/k_{z}$ (dashed lines) for KAWs with propagation angle $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}_{\boldsymbol{k}\boldsymbol{B}}=89.99^{\circ }$, at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=1$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}=1$ (a) or $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{e}=0.01$ (b) from kinetic theory (dark blue), the RLF model (thick red lines), the isothermal two-field model (green) and the RLF model with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}=0$ (violet).