Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) Theory Seminar

ADDED. Turbulence is a ubiquitous process in space and astrophysical plasmas that serves to mediate the transfer of large-scale motions to small scales at which the turbulence can be dissipated and the plasma heated. In situ solar wind observations and direct numerical simulations demonstrate that sub-proton scale turbulence is dominated by highly anisotropic and intermittent, low frequency, kinetic Alfvenic fluctuations. I will review recent work on the dissipation of Alfvenic turbulence observed in gyrokinetic simulations and discuss the coherent structures and intermittency associated with the turbulence, which suggest a non-local and non-self-similar energy cascade. Moving beyond the confines of gyrokinetics, I will also briefly discuss work on a full Eulerian Vlasov-Maxwell code, Gkeyll, being developed at Princeton and the University of Maryland.