CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Plasma dynamics is a multi-scale problem that involves many spatial andtemporal scales. Turbulence connects the disparate scales in this systemthrough a cascade that is established by nonlinear interactions. Mostastrophysical plasma systems are weakly collisional, making a fullykinetic Vlasov description of the system essential. Use of reducedmodels to study such systems is computationally desirable but carefulbenchmarking of physics in different models is needed. We perform onesuch comparison here between fully kinetic Particle-In-Cell (PIC) modeland a two-fluid model that includes Hall physics and electron inertia,with a particular focus on the sub-proton scale electric field. We showthat in general the two fluid model captures large scale dynamicsreasonably well. At smaller scales the Hall physics is also capturedreasonably well by the fluid code but electron features show departuresfrom the fully kinetic model. Implications for use of such fluid modelsare discussed.