physics.plasm-ph papers

Plasma physics explores the behavior of the fourth state of matter, a superheated soup of charged particles that makes up most of the visible universe. From the fusion power we hope to harness on Earth to the glowing auroras and distant stars above, this field investigates how these energetic gases interact with magnetic fields and light. It is a dynamic area where extreme conditions reveal fundamental laws of nature in ways solid matter never can.

At Gist.Science, we bridge the gap between these complex discoveries and curious minds by processing every new preprint from arXiv in this category. We transform dense, technical research into clear, plain-language explanations alongside detailed summaries, ensuring that breakthroughs in plasma dynamics and fusion energy are accessible to everyone. Below are the latest papers in plasma physics, curated and simplified for your reading.

⚛️ phenomenology

Nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production using polarized photons from inverse Compton scattering

This paper presents Monte Carlo simulations demonstrating that near-term experiments using 100-TW lasers and existing electron beams can generate highly polarized, mono-energetic gamma rays via inverse Compton scattering to precisely measure the polarization dependence of nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production, while future linear collider configurations could further reveal harmonic structures and the perturbative-to-nonperturbative transition.

Daniel Seipt, Mathias Samuelsson, Tom Blackburn2026-07-01

🔬 physics

Unified kinetic theory of induced scattering: Compton, Brillouin, and Raman processes in magnetized electron and positron pair plasma

This paper presents a unified kinetic theory for induced scattering processes in strongly magnetized electron-positron pair plasma, deriving analytical growth rates that reveal how magnetic fields and thermal conditions govern the dominance of Compton, Brillouin, and Raman scattering, including the emergence of stimulated Raman scattering in charged modes.

Rei Nishiura, Shoma F. Kamijima, Kunihito Ioka2026-07-01

🔬 physics

Plasma double layer development during high power EUV exposure

3D Particle-In-Cell simulations confirm that high-power EUV exposure induces a transient electrostatic plasma double layer at the boundary between exposed and unexposed regions, which emerges above a critical energy threshold, persists only during the ~70ns EUV-on period, and intensifies with increasing beam power.

Manis Chaudhuri, Pavel Krainov, Dmitry Astakhov, Andrei M. Yakunin, Mark van de Kerkhof2026-07-01

🔬 physics

High-Performance Resilient Multi-GPU Hybrid Particle-in-Cell Monte Carlo Simulations at Scale

This paper presents a scalable, resilient, and portable hybrid MPI+OpenMP framework for high-performance multi-GPU Particle-in-Cell Monte Carlo simulations, featuring advanced load balancing, cross-vendor checkpointing via openPMD and ADIOS2, and comprehensive profiling, which has been validated with strong and weak scaling up to 800 GPUs on exascale systems like Frontier, MN5, and LUMI-G.

Jeremy J. Williams, Stefan Costea, David Tskhakaya, Leon Kos, Ales Podolnik, Jakub Hromadka, Jordy Trilaksono, Yi Ju, Ka (…)2026-06-30

🔬 physics

Detecting Quantum Stochastic Effects in Radiation Reaction via Laser-Produced Surface QED Plasmas

This paper proposes and simulates a method using ultra-intense laser-driven V-shaped plasma cavities to generate GeV electrons colliding with confined surface waves, demonstrating that the resulting angular-spectral signatures of deflected electrons provide a distinct experimental pathway to detect quantum stochastic effects in radiation reaction.

Junhua Zhang, Xianshu Wu, Luyao Zhang, Yao Meng, Longqing Yi2026-06-30

🔬 physics

Inferring solar-wind plasma structures from sparse probe trajectories using recurrent reduced-order learning

This paper presents a recurrent reduced-order learning framework that successfully reconstructs two-dimensional solar-wind plasma spatial distributions, including radial velocity and density, from sparse spacecraft probe trajectories, demonstrating its potential to overcome the limitations of local sampling in heliospheric studies.

Maryam Reza, Farbod Faraji2026-06-29

🔬 physics

A Weakly Nonlinear Theory of Zonal-Flow Forcing in Gyrokinetic Turbulence

This paper presents a weakly nonlinear theory based on a three-wave truncation scheme that predicts the zonal-flow spectrum in gyrokinetic turbulence far from marginality, demonstrating that the phase-space structure of driving fluctuations leads to an enhanced residual spectrum compared to classic calculations.

Georgia Acton, Eduardo Rodrìguez, Gareth Roberg-Clark, Alessandro Zocco2026-06-29

🔬 physics

Single-Shot Intensity-Correlation Diffractive X-ray Imaging of ICF Plasmas

This paper proposes and numerically demonstrates a single-shot intensity-correlation diffractive imaging (IDI) technique that utilizes Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlations and bispectral phase retrieval to achieve submicron-resolution X-ray imaging of inertial confinement fusion plasmas, overcoming the resolution limits of current radiography methods.

Kenan Qu, Daniel Bhatti, Nathaniel J. Fisch2026-06-26

🔬 physics

A coherent structure transport model for scrape-off layer turbulence

This paper presents a fast, theory-based Coherent Structure Transport (CST) model that integrates blobby turbulence with SOLPS-ITER equilibrium solutions to successfully reproduce empirical heat load width scalings and predict a secondary heat flux peak in fusion reactor divertors.

Zhichen Feng, James Myra, Junyi Cheng, Calder Haubrich, Yang Chen, Xinxing Ma, Darin R. Ernst, Scott Parker2026-06-25

🔬 physics

Rise Time Effects of a Portable Inductive Energy Storage Pulse Generator on NO Production in Spark Discharges

This study demonstrates that while a portable inductive energy storage system can adjust pulse rise time, nitric oxide production in atmospheric spark discharges is primarily driven by total energy input rather than rise time, highlighting the system's feasibility for compact plasma applications.

Cheng-Hsiao Hsueh (Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan (…)2026-06-25

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