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Colliding Alfvénic wave packets in magnetohydrodynamics, Hall and kinetic simulations

Part of: PLA The Vlasov Equation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2017

O. Pezzi ,
T. N. Parashar ,
S. Servidio ,
F. Valentini ,
C. L. Vásconez ,
Y. Yang ,
F. Malara ,
W. H. Matthaeus  and
P. Veltri
O. Pezzi*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy
T. N. Parashar
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, DE 19716, USA
S. Servidio
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy
F. Valentini
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy
C. L. Vásconez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Física, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador
Y. Yang
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, DE 19716, USA
F. Malara
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy
W. H. Matthaeus
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, DE 19716, USA
P. Veltri
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy
*
†Email address for correspondence: oreste.pezzi@fis.unical.it
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Abstract

The analysis of the Parker–Moffatt problem, recently revisited in Pezzi et al. (Astrophys. J., vol. 834, 2017, p. 166), is here extended by including Hall magnetohydrodynamics and two hybrid kinetic Vlasov–Maxwell numerical models. The presence of dispersive and kinetic features is studied in detail and a comparison between the two kinetic codes is also reported. Focus on the presence of non-Maxwellian signatures shows that – during the collision – regions characterized by strong temperature anisotropy are recovered and the proton distribution function displays a beam along the direction of the magnetic field, similar to some recent observations of the solar wind.

Keywords

astrophysical plasmasplasma simulationspace plasma physics
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 83 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , 705830108
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 

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