@article{Franci:2015:1/21,
author = {Franci, L and Landi, S and Matteini, L and Verdini, A and Hellinger, P},
doi = {1/21},
journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
title = {High-resolution hybrid simulations of kinetic plasma turbulence at proton scales},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/812/1/21},
volume = {812},
year = {2015}
}

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TY  - JOUR
AB  - We investigate properties of plasma turbulence from magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) to sub-ion scales by means oftwo-dimensional, high-resolution hybrid particle-in-cell simulations. We impose an initial ambient magneticfield perpendicular to the simulation box, and we add a spectrum of large-scale magnetic and kineticfluctuations with energy equipartition and vanishing correlation. Once the turbulence is fully developed, weobserve an MHD inertial range, where the spectra of the perpendicular magnetic field and the perpendicular protonbulk velocity fluctuations exhibit power-law scaling with spectral indices of -5 3 and -3 2, respectively. Thisbehavior is extended over a full decade in wavevectors and is very stable in time. A transition is observed aroundproton scales. At sub-ion scales, both spectra steepen, with the former still following a power law with a spectralindex of ~-3. A-2.8 slope is observed in the density and parallel magnetic fluctuations, highlighting the presenceof compressive effects at kinetic scales. The spectrum of the perpendicular electric fluctuations follows that of theproton bulk velocity at MHD scales, and flattens at small scales. All these features, which we carefully testedagainst variations of many parameters, are in good agreement with solar wind observations. The turbulent cascadeleads to on overall proton energization with similar heating rates in the parallel and perpendicular directions. Whilethe parallel proton heating is found to be independent on the resistivity, the number of particles per cell, and theresolution employed, the perpendicular proton temperature strongly depends on these parameters.
AU  - Franci,L
AU  - Landi,S
AU  - Matteini,L
AU  - Verdini,A
AU  - Hellinger,P
DO  - 1/21
PY  - 2015///
SN  - 1538-4357
TI  - High-resolution hybrid simulations of kinetic plasma turbulence at proton scales
T2  - Astrophysical Journal
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/812/1/21
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/28176
VL  - 812
ER  - 

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