Collaborative Research: Energy Conversion Beyond the First Law of Thermodynamics in Non-Equilibrium Plasmas

合作研究：非平衡等离子体中超越热力学第一定律的能量转换

• 批准号: 2308669
• 负责人: Paul Cassak
• 金额: $ 47.5万
• 依托单位: West Virginia University Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-15 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308669&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Energy; Conversion; Beyond

This award supports a collaborative effort at West Virginia University and the University of New Hampshire to study energy conversion in weakly collisional plasmas. One of the most challenging problems in the study of plasmas - gases hot enough that electrons come apart from the atoms - is understanding how energy is converted between electromagnetic fields and the thermal energy of the plasma, which is the energy associated with random motion of the electrically charged particles. This is an important problem across many types of plasmas, including plasmas in space and the very hot plasmas that are used in fusion energy development. These plasmas, where collisions between particles are very rare, are most often far from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), which means that one cannot even define a temperature in the traditional sense. This project builds on a recent result quantifying energy conversion in non-LTE plasmas to perform the first systematic study of the non-LTE energy conversion in weakly collisional plasmas.The project will employ state-of-the-art particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and satellite data from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. Parametric simulations of two-dimensional magnetic reconnection and turbulence will be used to understand the dependence of thermal energy conversion on ambient plasma parameters. Secondary islands and flux ropes will be studied in two-dimensional and three-dimensional magnetic reconnection since they are known to be sites of particle acceleration and non-LTE dynamics. Finally, the theoretical formalism will be generalized to account for energy in both random motion and bulk motion and it will be used to study energy conversion in two-dimensional reconnection and turbulence. The project will directly contribute to the study of energy conversion in eruptive flares in the solar atmosphere, geomagnetic substorms that produce aurora and space weather impacts, and the heating of the solar wind; it will also set the stage for application in other areas of plasma science, including high energy density and fusion plasmas. The collaborative award is co-funded by the Plasma Physics program in the Division of Physics and the Magnetospheric Physics program in the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项支持西弗吉尼亚大学和新罕布什尔大学的合作努力，以研究微弱碰撞等离子体的能量转换。 等离子体研究中最具挑战性的问题之一 - 气体足够热以至于电子与原子分开 - 了解如何在电磁场和等离子体的热能之间转化能量，这是与电荷颗粒随机运动相关的能量。 这是许多类型的等离子体的重要问题，包括空间中的等离子体以及用于融合能量开发的非常热的等离子体。 这些等离子体在颗粒之间的碰撞非常罕见，通常远离局部热力学平衡（LTE），这意味着人们甚至无法从传统意义上定义温度。该项目以最新的结果为基础，该结果量化了非LTE等离子体中的能量转化，以对弱碰撞等离子中的非LTE能量转化进行首次系统研究。该项目将采用磁层多层（MMS）任务中的最新粒子粒子（PIC）模拟（PIC）模拟（PIC）模拟（PIC）模拟。 二维磁重新连接和湍流的参数模拟将用于了解热能转化对环境血浆参数的依赖性。次要岛和通量绳将以二维和三维磁重新连接进行研究，因为它们是粒子加速度和非LTE动力学的位置。最后，理论形式主义将被概括为在随机运动和散装运动中均可说明能量，并将用于研究二维重新连接和湍流中的能量转化。 该项目将直接有助于研究太阳大气中喷发耀斑的能量转化，产生极光和太空天气影响的地磁化体以及太阳风的加热；它还将为在等离子体科学的其他领域（包括高能量密度和融合等离子体）的应用奠定阶段。 该协作奖是由等离子物理计划在大气和地理科学部门的物理和磁层物理计划部门共同资助的。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来通过评估来支持的。