SHINE: A Vlasov-Maxwell Study of Solar Wind Turbulence Heating and Distribution Function Dynamics

发展对磁化等离子体中湍流的详细了解一直是更广泛的科学界长期追求的目标，这既是一个基本的物理过程，也是因为它对各种现象的适用性。磁化等离子体中的湍流是将大注入尺度的能量转化为小尺度运动的主要机制，这些运动最终在太阳日冕和风等系统中以热量的形式消散。在这方面，这个为期3年的SIRE项目的主要目的是通过混合和全动力学、连续的Vlasov-Maxwell模拟来提高对弱碰撞等离子体中等离子体加热和分布函数动力学的现有理解。这个为期3年的SIRE项目旨在实现以下三个科学目标。第一个目标是更好地理解与完全非线性湍流中的波阻尼有关的分布函数动力学。第二个目标是研究质子尺度附近的阿尔文湍流的行为。第三个目标是确定作为湍流的自然结果而产生的大规模间歇结构中质子和电子加热的相对重要性。该项目与NSF的SIRE计划直接相关，因为它将提供关于太空和天体物理等离子体中湍流性质的重要知识。这种知识对于准确模拟和预测从太阳表面到地球乃至更远的空间天气状况至关重要。该项目的研究成果可能会对弱碰撞聚变实验产生影响，它可能会为无数的日球层领域提供更多的洞察，并引起天体物理学的兴趣。所选择的参数和模拟的连续体性质将为现有和即将进行的航天器任务提供宝贵的粒子分布函数信息，例如太阳探测器Plus。从这个项目中获得的知识将有助于开发改进的能源运输模型，这可能有助于对许多不同的大规模现象进行全球建模。该项目最后阶段的全部模拟数据将提供给社区，以便分析和直接与现有的航天器数据进行比较。此外，模拟代码、Gkeyll和相关的分析脚本可供社区公开使用。该项目将资助马里兰大学学院公园的一名研究生。此外，来自大西洋中部少数民族服务机构的人数不足的本科生将在一年一度的冬季研讨会期间，通过研究生资源促进马里兰天文学和物理学多样性(Grad-MAP)计划参与研究。研讨会中的学生将开发输入脚本并分析模拟数据，以向他们介绍高性能计算研究，帮助他们为研究生院做准备。该项目的研究和EPO议程支持AGS部门在发现、学习、多样性和跨学科研究方面的战略目标。

The development of a detailed understanding of turbulence in magnetized plasmas has been a long standing goal of the broader scientific community, both as a fundamental physics process and because of its applicability to a wide variety of phenomena. Turbulence in a magnetized plasma is the primary mechanism responsible for transforming energy at large injection scales into small-scale motions, which are ultimately dissipated as heat in systems such as the solar corona and wind. In this regard, the main purpose of this 3-year SHINE project is to improve present understanding of plasma heating and distribution function dynamics in weakly collisional plasmas using both hybrid and fully kinetic, continuum Vlasov-Maxwell simulations. This 3-year SHINE project aims to accomplish the following three science objectives. The first objective is to develop a better understanding of the distribution function dynamics related to wave damping in fully non-linear turbulence. The second objective is to examine the behavior of Alfvenic turbulence near the proton scale. The third objective is to determine the relative importance of proton and electron heating in large-scale intermittent structures produced as a natural consequence of turbulence. The project is directly relevant to the NSF's SHINE program, because it will provide important knowledge about the nature of turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas. Such knowledge is critical for accurate modeling and prediction of the space weather conditions from the solar surface to the Earth and beyond. The research outcome of this project may have implications for weakly collisional fusion experiments, and it could provide additional insight into a myriad of heliospheric domains, and be of interest to the astrophysics community. The parameters chosen and the continuum nature of the simulations will provide valuable particle distribution function information for existing and upcoming spacecraft missions, such as Solar Probe Plus. The knowledge gained from this project will aid in the development of improved models of energy transport, which may aid in global modeling of many disparate, large-scale phenomena. The full simulation data from the final stage of the project will be made available to the community to analyze and compare directly to available spacecraft data. Additionally, the simulation code, Gkeyll, and associated analysis scripts are openly available for community use. The project will support a graduate student at the University of Maryland College Park. Additionally, underrepresented undergraduate students from mid-Atlantic minority-serving institutions will be involved in the research through the Graduate Resources Advancing Diversity with Maryland Astronomy and Physics (GRAD-MAP) program during their annual winter workshops. The students in the workshops will develop input scripts and analyze simulation data to introduce them to high performance computing research, aiding in their preparation for graduate school. The research and EPO agenda of this project supports the Strategic Goals of the AGS Division in discovery, learning, diversity, and interdisciplinary research.