Plasma turbulence driven by wave-hole interaction

Abstract

Wave-obstacle diffraction is, par excellence, an example of transition to nonlinearity, generating turbulence and complexity in fluids. We present an idealized kinetic plasma regime capturing this ubiquitous interaction and its transition to phase-space turbulence. High-resolution Vlasov-Poisson simulations reveal that the interplay between electrostatic waves and density gaps at Debye and sub-Debye scales redistributes a strongly anisotropic energy cascade throughout the full phase space, unveiling the effect of inhomogeneities on structure formation and small-scale-directed turbulent flow.