Critical comparison of collisionless fluid models: Nonlinear simulations of parallel firehose instability

TL;DR

This paper compares two collisionless plasma fluid models through nonlinear simulations of the parallel firehose instability, highlighting differences in their ability to predict linear and long-term behaviors, emphasizing the importance of cyclotron damping.

Contribution

It provides a detailed nonlinear comparison of CGL and CRC models, demonstrating the significance of cyclotron resonance effects in collisionless plasma simulations.

Findings

CGL model better describes linear firehose instability

CRC model reproduces electromagnetic ion cyclotron instability

Long-term behaviors differ significantly between models

Abstract

Two different fluid models for collisionless plasmas are compared. One is based on the classical Chew-Goldberger-Low (CGL) model that includes a finite Larmor radius (FLR) correction and the Landau closure for the longitudinal mode. Another one takes into account the effect of cyclotron resonance in addition to Landau resonance, which is referred to as the cyclotron resonance closure (CRC) model. While the linear property of the parallel firehose instability is better described by the CGL model, the electromagnetic ion cyclotron instability driven unstable by the cyclotron resonance is reproduced only by the CRC model. Nonlinear simulation results for the parallel firehose instability performed with the two models are also discussed. Although the linear and quasilinear isotropization phases are consistent with theory in both models, long-term behaviors may be substantially different. The final state obtained by the CRC model may be reasonably understood in terms of the marginal stability condition. In contrast, the lack of cyclotron damping in the CGL model makes it rather difficult to predict the long-term behavior with a simple physical argument. This suggests that incorporating the collisionless damping both for longitudinal and transverse modes is crucial for a nonlinear fluid simulation model of collisionless plasmas.