Demystifying Energy Conversion in Plasmas: A Dive into Higher-Order Moments with Dr. Cassak

In this podcast episode, Dr. Cassak delves into the exploration of energy conversion in weakly collisional and collisionless plasmas that are typically far from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). He challenges the standard approach of focusing solely on changes in internal energy and density, advocating for consideration of higher-order moments of the phase space density for systems not in LTE. Through particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection, Dr. Cassak unveils that energy conversion associated with higher-order moments can have a significant local impact. These insights could illuminate a myriad of plasma environments, including reconnection, turbulence, shocks, and wave-particle interactions in heliospheric, planetary, and astrophysical plasmas.Weakly Collisional Plasmas, Collisionless Plasmas, Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium, Energy Conversion, Higher-Order Moments, Phase Space Density, Particle-in-Cell Simulations, Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection, Plasma Settings, Reconnection, Turbulence, Shocks, Wave-Particle Interactions, Heliospheric Plasmas, Planetary Plasmas, Astrophysical Plasmas.Quantifying Energy Conversion in Higher-Order Phase Space Density Moments in Plasmas Paul A. Cassak, et al Phys. Rev. Lett. 2023 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.085201