The project focuses on dynamical processes in plasmas, consisting of ionized atoms and electrons, which are dynamically sensitive to magnetic fields and may change the magnetic fields by their motion. The complexity of the interaction of plasma particles and the electromagnetic field leads to difficulties in effective mathematical description and physical understanding of plasma dynamics. The primary purpose of the project is deeper understanding of processes related to development of the pressure anisotropy in collisionless or weakly collisional plasmas. The pressure anisotropy can be spontaneously generated by velocity shear, plasma expansion or compression and temperature gradients when characteristic time scale for these processes is smaller than the time scale for Coulomb collisions.
Results of the project are expected to be important for general plasma physics as related to the problem of multiscale phenomena in plasmas and coupling between microphysics and macrophysical processes. The study falls into the field of fundamental research aiming at general understanding of pressure-anisotropy-related phenomena in plasmas with possible direct applications to other fields: dynamics of galaxy-cluster plasmas, dynamical processes in stellar winds and planetary magnetospheres. Due to numerous practical applications of plasmas, results of the project potentially may have some practical applications in future.
In terms of objectives, the project focuses on the investigation of (i) the transfer of the energy between the components: kinetic (mechanical), thermal and magnetic, in the presence of pressure anisotropy and related instabilities, (ii) constraints on the pressure anisotropy and other variables describing the state of the system, (iii) development of computational tools for numerical simulations of pressure-anisotropic plasmas. The study includes links between the microphysics and large-scale dynamics and the role of instabilities and effective viscosity of pressure-anisotropic plasmas. Theoretical results are contrasted with spacecraft measurements in turbulent solar wind.
