Theoretical modeling of radiation-driven plasma turbulence in an unmagnetized plasma

Abstract

The radiation-driven plasma-turbulence problem is in essence an application problem of electrodynamics. In electrodynamics, electromagnetic fields at any point are determined by all charges and currents in the underlying physical system, the fields' history and physical constraints. Starting from this standpoint, we have proved that radiation-driven electromagnetic turbulence in a plasma can be studied in the same way we study the electrostatic turbulence excited by electromagnetic waves in a plasma by means of a two-fluid approximation, a two-timescale technique, and a two-spacescale technique. The main difference between electromagnetic turbulence model equations and the Zakharov equations governing electrostatic turbulence is that a driving term appears in the former. The physical origin of this driving term is the current that emits the radiation which supplies the free energy source that gives rise to both electromagnetic and electrostatic turbulences. Simulated electromagnetic emissions, large scale density perturbation and anomalous absorption can be calculated quantitatively based on the electromagnetic turbulence model equations.