Electron temperature anisotropy in an expanding plasma: Particle-in-cell simulations

Abstract

We perform fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of a hot plasma that expands radially in a cylindrical geometry. The aim of the paper is to study the consequent development of the electron temperature anisotropy in an expanding plasma flow as found in a collisionless stellar wind. Kinetic plasma theory and simulations have shown that the electron temperature anisotropy is controlled by fluctuations driven by electromagnetic kinetic instabilities. In this study, the temperature anisotropy is driven self-consistently by the expansion. While the expansion favors an increase of parallel anisotropy (T∥ > T⊥), the onset of the fire-hose instability will tend to decrease it. We show the results for supersonic, subsonic, and static expansion flows and suggest possible applications of the results for the solar wind and other stellar winds. © 2010 The American Astronomical Society.