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On annihilation of the relativistic electron vortex pair in collisionless plasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2018

K. V. Lezhnin ,
F. F. Kamenets ,
T. Zh. Esirkepov  and
S. V. Bulanov
K. V. Lezhnin*
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Kashirskoe sh. 31, 115409, Moscow, Russia
F. F. Kamenets
Affiliation:
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Institutskiy per. 9, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region 141700, Russia
T. Zh. Esirkepov
Affiliation:
National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Sciences and Technology, 8-1-7 Umemidai, Kizugawa, Kyoto 619-0215, Japan
S. V. Bulanov
Affiliation:
National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Sciences and Technology, 8-1-7 Umemidai, Kizugawa, Kyoto 619-0215, Japan Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences v.v.i. (FZU), Na Slovance 1999/2, 18221, Prague, Czech Republic Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
*
†Email address for correspondence: klezhnin@princeton.edu
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Abstract

In contrast to hydrodynamic vortices, vortices in a plasma contain an electric current circulating around the centre of the vortex, which generates a magnetic field localized inside. Using computer simulations, we demonstrate that the magnetic field associated with the vortex gives rise to a mechanism of dissipation of the vortex pair in a collisionless plasma, leading to fast annihilation of the magnetic field with its energy transforming into the energy of fast electrons, secondary vortices and plasma waves. Two major contributors to the energy damping of a double vortex system, namely, magnetic field annihilation and secondary vortex formation, are regulated by the size of the vortex with respect to the electron skin depth, which scales with the electron $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$ factor, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{e}$, as $R/d_{e}\propto \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{e}^{1/2}$. Magnetic field annihilation appears to be dominant in mildly relativistic vortices, while for the ultrarelativistic case, secondary vortex formation is the main channel for damping of the initial double vortex system.

Keywords

plasma nonlinear phenomenaplasma simulationplasma waves
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 84 , Issue 6 , December 2018 , 905840610
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

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