Singular asymmetric plasma structures

Asymmetry is often regarded as a perturbation of an otherwise symmetric state of affairs. Strongly asymmetric structures are nevertheless observed in several states of matter. Plasmas, in particular, offer a fertile setting for the observation and laboratory reproduction of nonlinear, strongly asymmetric, long lived structures, which cannot be conceived as being small perturbations of any symmetric counterpart. Since a few years, at CNR-IPCF, we have been carrying out research on asymmetric plasma structures, ranging from raw data analysis to the development of new mathematical tools and numerical algorithms. Our research is based on the statistical description of plasmas conceived as a set of multi species particles, electric and magnetic fields. One major result is that, beside nonlinearity, the emergence of asymmetry is intimately connected to the onset of singularities, i.e. infinities, in the model distributions of certain physical quantities. Owing to their recently proved stability properties, the novel asymmetric singular inhomogeneous structures thus found are likely to play an important role in plasma science. Our work recently received special mention at the 100thcongress of the Italian Physical Society.

In questo contributo vengono analizzate le proprietà di strutture di plasma inomogenee che presentano una asimmetria spaziale. Si analizzano le singolarità e le discontinuità che caratterizzano le distribuzioni nello spazio delle fasi sia degli elettroni che degli ioni. Vengono illustrati i metodi matematici messi a punto per l'analisi di queste strutture.