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

SHINE：太阳风湍流加热和分布函数动力学的 Vlasov-Maxwell 研究

• 批准号: 1801373
• 负责人: Jason TenBarge
• 金额: $ 21.2万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-19 至 2020-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1801373&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SHINE; Vlasov; Maxwell; Study; Solar

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.

对磁化等离子体中湍流的详细了解的发展一直是更广泛的科学界的长期目标，这既是一个基本的物理过程，也是因为它适用于各种各样的现象。 磁化等离子体中的湍流是负责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作为热量消散。 在这方面，这个为期3年的SHINE项目的主要目的是提高目前的理解等离子体加热和分布函数动力学在弱碰撞等离子体中使用混合动力学和完全动力学，连续Vlasov-Maxwell模拟。这个为期三年的SHINE项目旨在实现以下三个科学目标。 第一个目标是发展一个更好的了解有关的分布函数动力学波阻尼在完全非线性湍流。 第二个目标是研究质子尺度附近Alfvenic湍流的行为。 第三个目标是确定质子和电子加热的相对重要性，在大规模的间歇性结构产生的湍流的自然后果。 该项目与NSF的SHINE计划直接相关，因为它将提供有关空间湍流和天体物理等离子体性质的重要知识。 这类知识对于准确建模和预测从太阳表面到地球及其以外的空间气象条件至关重要。 该项目的研究成果可能对弱碰撞聚变实验产生影响，它可以提供对无数日光层域的额外见解，并引起天体物理学界的兴趣。 所选择的参数和模拟的连续性将为现有和即将到来的航天器任务，如太阳探测器+提供有价值的粒子分布函数信息。 从该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，以分析和直接与现有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。 该项目将支持马里兰州大学帕克分校的一名研究生。 此外，来自大西洋中部少数民族服务机构的代表性不足的本科生将通过研究生资源促进多样性与马里兰州天文学和物理学（GRAD-MAP）计划在他们的年度冬季研讨会期间参与研究。 参加研讨会的学生将开发输入脚本并分析模拟数据，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。