Presentation | SH33E: Multiscale Description of Solar Wind Dynamics: Quasilinear Theory, Simulations, and Observations Poster
Poster
SH33E-2561: Universal power-law distribution functions in an electromagnetic kinetic plasma: implications for the inverted temperature profile in the solar corona
Collisionless plasmas with low density and high temperature relax to non-Maxwellian, power-law distribution functions (number of particles per velocity or energy) that are remarkably universal in observations and simulations despite the apparent lack of a second law of thermodynamics. One particular power-law is commonly observed, the origin of which has till date remained a mystery in fundamental plasma physics. We have developed a first principles kinetic theory for the relaxation of kinetic (collisionless and weakly collisional) plasmas that demonstrates this power-law to be an outcome of the preferential heating of high energy particles in a bath of large-scale electromagnetic turbulence due to the dielectric polarization (Debye shielding) of plasmas.
