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From Weibel seeds to dynamo beyond pair-plasmas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Bridging the spatiotemporal scales of magnetic seed field generation and subsequent dynamo amplification in the weakly collisional intracluster medium presents an extreme numerical challenge. We perform collisionless turbulence simulations with initially unmagnetised electrons that capture both magnetic seed generation via the electron Weibel instability and the ensuing dynamo amplification. Going beyond existing pair-plasma studies, we use an ion-to-electron mass ratio of 100 for which we find electron and ion dynamics are sufficiently decoupled. These simulations are enabled by the 10-moment collisionless fluid solver of Gkeyll, which evolves the full pressure tensor for all species. The electron heat-flux closure regulates pressure isotropisation and effectively sets the magnetic Reynolds number. We investigate how the strength of the closure influences the transition between a regime reminiscent of previous kinetic pair-plasma simulations and a regime exhibiting dynamo behaviour qualitatively similar to magnetohydrodynamics.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberE79
JournalJournal of Plasma Physics
Volume92
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 11 2026

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Condensed Matter Physics

Keywords

  • astrophysical plasmas
  • plasma dynamics
  • plasma simulation

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