Collisionless Adiabatic Afterglow

TL;DR

This paper investigates the evolution of a collisionless plasma confined between absorbing walls, analyzing how rarefaction waves propagate, interact, and dissipate over time through numerical and analytical methods.

Contribution

It introduces a combined numerical and analytical approach to study the dynamics of collisionless plasma with boundary-induced rarefaction waves.

Findings

Rarefaction waves propagate inward from the walls.

Waves interact and eventually vanish after crossing.

The plasma reaches an asymptotic phase.

Abstract

We study, by numerical and analytical means, the evolution of a uniform one-dimensional collisionless plasma initiated between plane absorbing walls. The ensuing flow is described by rarefaction waves that propagate symmetrically inward from the boundaries, interact, and eventually vanish after crossing through, leading up to the asymptotic phase.