🔬 Category

physics.plasm-ph

725 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.

🔬 physics

Bayesian optimization of stellarator alpha-particle confinement using data-informed parameter spaces and dimensionality reduction

This paper proposes two data-informed parameterization methods—quantile transformation of Fourier modes and PCA-based dimensionality reduction—to enable efficient Bayesian optimization of stellarator shapes for superior alpha-particle confinement, overcoming the limitations of traditional Fourier-based approaches regarding parameter bounds and expressiveness.

Matt Landreman, Michael Czekanski, Andrew Giuliani, Byoungchan Jang, Rory Conlin2026-06-19
🔬 optics

Dephasingless laser wakefield acceleration in a plasma waveguide

This paper proposes a method to eliminate dephasing in laser wakefield accelerators by using spatiotemporally structured laser pulses within a plasma waveguide, which enables wakefields to propagate at the vacuum speed of light while maintaining a constant spot size and ultrashort duration, thereby significantly reducing the required plasma volume and allowing for linearly scalable energy gains.

J. P. Palastro, K. G. Miller, C. D. Arrowsmith, R. Almeida, M. R. Edwards, A. L. Elliott, A. Kiewel, A. Konzel, L. S. Ma (…)2026-06-19
⚛️ general relativity

FPIC: a new Particle-In-Cell code for stationary and axisymmetric black-hole spacetimes

This paper introduces FPIC, a new Fortran-based General Relativistic Particle-In-Cell code utilizing spherical Kerr-Schild coordinates and a novel hybrid particle pusher to accurately simulate plasma dynamics and energy extraction mechanisms, such as the Penrose process and Blandford-Znajek luminosity, in stationary and axisymmetric black-hole spacetimes.

Claudio Meringolo, Luciano Rezzolla2026-06-18
🔭 astrophysics

Numerical Study of Alfven Wave-Energetic Particle Interaction in the Inner Van Allen Belt and predictions of Seismic-Related Energetic Proton Bursts for the IITMSAT Mission

This paper presents a numerical study using a kinetic model and Finite Difference Time Domain simulations to demonstrate how low-frequency Alfvén waves resonantly precipitate high-energy protons from the inner Van Allen belt, thereby validating the detection strategy for seismic-related particle bursts planned for the IITM satellite mission.

Snehanshu Maiti, Harishankar Ramachandran2026-06-18
🔭 astrophysics

The Quiet-Sun DEM Under Kappa: Diagnostic Degeneracy and the Failure of the Conductive Closure

This paper argues that if the quiet solar corona's electron distribution follows a κ≈2.5\kappa \approx 2.5 suprathermal tail, the standard Spitzer-Harm conductive closure becomes mathematically invalid due to a divergent integral and EUV diagnostics fail to distinguish such plasmas from Maxwellian ones, thereby dismantling the foundational assumptions of current quiet-Sun heating models.

Victor Edmonds2026-06-18
🔬 physics

Bivariate incomplete-Bessel kernels for the first nonlinear Vlasov-Maxwell response

This paper extends a recently developed incomplete-Bessel function formulation from linear to nonlinear plasma physics by deriving the first nonlinear Vlasov-Maxwell response in terms of a newly introduced bivariate incomplete-Bessel kernel, which naturally arises from the characteristic integral and offers a more compact alternative to traditional double cyclotron-harmonic expansions.

Roberto Ricci2026-06-18
🔬 optics

Stability and optical quality of "windmill"-formed 8CB liquid crystal films for replenishable plasma mirrors

This study systematically characterizes the stability and optical quality of "windmill"-formed 8CB liquid crystal films, demonstrating high formation reliability at moderate speeds and excellent wavefront stability within an optimal temperature range, thereby establishing them as promising candidates for future high-repetition-rate plasma mirror applications.

A. Vazquez, A. Jewell, M. Cole, A. Abdi, T. K. Le, A. McIlvenny, N. Czapla, L. Russell, A. Picksley, A. J. Gonsalves, K. (…)2026-06-17
🔬 physics

First divertor exposure experiments of a renewable boron pebble aggregate in DIII-D

First divertor exposure experiments in the DIII-D tokamak demonstrated that a renewable boron pebble aggregate can withstand high heat fluxes up to 80 MW/m² but suffers from significant dust emission and surface recession, indicating a need for design improvements to mitigate material loss in future applications.

Erick Martinez-Loran, Angelica Ottaviano, Santhosh T. A. Kumar, Gabriel Brewster, Renato Perillo, Dmitry Rudakov, Jun Re (…)2026-06-17
🔬 physics

Schrödinger equations and fluctuation theorems for collisionless plasma systems

This paper establishes a nonequilibrium statistical-mechanical framework for collisionless plasma systems by formulating fluctuation theorems for linear Vlasov-Poisson and gyrokinetic equations recast in Schrödinger form, interpreting stochastic relative entropy as entropy generation during Landau damping, and providing analytical solutions that offer potential applications for quantum computing simulations.

Hideo Sugama2026-06-17