Kinetic simulations of proton mirror instabilities

Chun-Kai Chang^1*, Lin-Ni Hau^1,2

¹Department of Space Science & Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan city, Taiwan
²Department of Physics, National Central University, Taoyuan city, Taiwan

* Presenter:Chun-Kai Chang, email:chunkai13@g.ncu.edu.tw

Mirror instabilities and waves may exist in space plasma environments and laboratory experiments. They are identified in the solar wind by the characteristics of anticorrelated plasma density and magnetic field perturbations. The proton mirror instability occurs when the perpendicular proton temperature exceeds the parallel temperature and the linear instability criteria are satisfied. In this study, we examine the time evolution of proton mirror instability based on the kinetic particle simulations. In this model the ions are treated as particles and the electron are regarded as a fluid. It is shown that the features of observed mirror waves, including various perturbations and wavelengths etc., may well be reproduced by the kinetic simulations. The growth rates and the phase relations in the kinetic simulations are also consistent with the linear Vlasov theory.

Keywords: mirror instability, Kinetic simulation, temperature anisotropy, mirror waves