Physics Colloquium - Whistler Turbulence In Collisionless Plasmas Particle-In-Cell Simulations

Peter Gary

Space Science Institute

This presentation will summarize the physics of an ensemble of three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of whistler turbulence.  The computational model represents a collisionless, homogeneous, magnetized plasma on which an initial spectrum of relatively long-wavelength whistler fluctuations is imposed.  The simulations show that the fluctuations undergo a nonlinear cascade to shorter wavelengths, developing a broadband, anisotropic spectrum of whistler turbulence.  The turbulence heats electrons more strongly than ions, but imposes different characteristic anisotropies on the two species. The simulation results will be interpreted in terms of fundamental wave-particle and wave-wave plasma processes, and will be compared against solar wind observations of short-wavelength turbulence.