Dynamics of a positive probe in ExB drifting plasma: 3-D electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations

摘要

We present the recent results of a series of electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations, taken over a broad range of parameter space, that modeled a positive probe in ExB drifting plasma. These results address two fundamental problems: momentum coupling in magnetized flowing plasma and the plasma/sheath dynamics of a positive probe in ExB drifting plasma. In these simulations we observed rarefied electron wings develop along the magnetic field in the wake of the positive probe and a quasi-trapped electron region. Depending on the parameter regime, either electrostatic or electromagnetic waves formed in the probe's wake (directly downstream of the probe or along the rarefied electron wings), similar to predictions by Stenzel and Urrutia