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.

Comprehensive full-f drift-kinetic and delta-f gyrokinetic simulations of a linear plasma device based on the gyro-moment approach

This paper presents the first comprehensive full-f drift-kinetic and $\delta$ -f gyrokinetic simulations of the LAPD linear plasma device, revealing that ion distributions are approximately bi-Maxwellian and that Kelvin-Helmholtz-driven turbulence dominates the system, with small-scale structures only significantly amplified under reduced collisionality and enhanced source conditions.

Jacob Emil Mencke, Paolo Ricci2026-03-16🔬 physics

Magnetic Field Line Chaos, Cantori, and Turnstiles in Toroidal Plasmas

This review paper aims to bridge the gap between advanced mathematical concepts like chaos, cantori, and turnstiles and their practical applications in toroidal plasma physics by demonstrating how these frameworks can resolve longstanding misunderstandings and advance solutions for critical issues such as magnetic reconnection, stellarator divertors, and runaway electron disruptions.

Allen H Boozer2026-03-13🔬 physics

$\pi$ -PIC: a framework for modular particle-in-cell developments and simulations

The paper introduces $\pi$ -PIC, a Python-controlled framework designed to facilitate the development, cross-testing, and comparison of next-generation particle-in-cell solvers and extensions that overcome traditional limitations like conserved quantity preservation and unbiased down-sampling.

Frida Brogren, Christoffer Olofsson, Joel Magnusson, Arkady Gonoskov2026-03-13🔬 physics

Operator Formalism for Laser-Plasma Wakefield Acceleration

This paper introduces a novel operator-based framework for laser-plasma wakefield acceleration in capillary discharges that utilizes specific mathematical operators to systematically describe coupled laser-plasma dynamics and invariant subspaces, while integrating neural operator methods to enable efficient reduced-order modeling and predictive control for next-generation accelerator experiments.

Mostafa Behtouei, Carlos Salgado Lopez, Giancarlo Gatti2026-03-13🔢 math-ph

Thermodynamically Consistent Vibrational-Electron Heating: Generalized Model for Multi-Quantum Transitions

This paper generalizes a thermodynamically consistent vibrational-electron heating model to include multi-quantum overtone transitions, thereby correcting significant systematic heating errors in high-energy regimes and ensuring accurate electron temperature predictions for non-equilibrium plasma applications.

Bernard Parent, Felipe Martin Rodriguez Fuentes2026-03-13🔬 physics

Predicting core transport in ITER baseline discharges with neon injections

This study utilizes integrated modeling to identify a restricted compatibility window for neon-seeded ITER baseline discharges, determining that core transport predictions align with divertor protection targets only when the effective charge is approximately 1.6–1.75 and auxiliary heating is maintained between 75% and 100% of nominal levels.

Dmitri M Orlov, Joseph McClenaghan, Jeff Candy, Jeremy D Lore, Nathan T Howard, Francesco Sciortino, Christopher Holland2026-03-13🔬 physics

High-energy Emission from Turbulent Electron-ion Coronae of Accreting Black Holes

This paper presents a radiative particle-in-cell model of turbulent electron-ion coronae around accreting black holes, demonstrating that such systems naturally evolve into a two-temperature state where ions carry most of the dissipated power while nonthermal electrons produce X-ray spectra consistent with observations like NGC 4151 and predict a distinct MeV tail for future detection.

Daniel Groselj, Alexander Philippov, Andrei M. Beloborodov, Richard Mushotzky2026-03-13🔭 astro-ph

Oxygen atom density and kinetics in intermediate-pressure radiofrequency capacitively-coupled plasmas in pure O2

This study utilizes laser cavity ringdown spectroscopy to characterize oxygen atom densities and kinetics in intermediate-pressure RF capacitively-coupled pure O2 plasmas, revealing that atom production peaks at specific pressures and powers while loss mechanisms transition from surface recombination enhanced by ion bombardment at lower pressures to gas-phase recombination at higher pressures.

Shu Zhang, Andrey Volynets, Garrett A. Curley, Jean-Paul Booth2026-03-13🔬 physics.app-ph

Chaos in the dynamics of electromagnetic solitons in relativistic degenerate plasmas

This paper proposes a coupled system describing the interaction between intense circularly polarized electromagnetic waves and electron-density perturbations in relativistic degenerate plasmas, demonstrating that increased degeneracy and nonlocal nonlinear corrections suppress modulational instability and favor stable soliton evolution while a three-wave model reveals the potential for quasiperiodic and chaotic dynamics.

S. Roy, S. Das Adhikary, A. P. Misra2026-03-13🌀 nlin

Intrinsic Nonlocality of Spin- and Polarization-Resolved Probabilities in Strong-Field Quantum Electrodynamics

This paper demonstrates that standard strong-field QED models fail to accurately predict angle-, spin-, and polarization-resolved distributions because they incorrectly treat photon emission as an instantaneous local event, and it proposes a new physically consistent model that integrates over the finite formation region to reveal significant deviations in polarization and helicity patterns with major implications for both laboratory experiments and astrophysical observations.

Samuele Montefiori, Antonino Di Piazza, Tobias Podszus, Christoph H. Keitel, Matteo Tamburini2026-03-13⚛️ hep-ph

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physics.plasm-ph