🔬 Category

physics.plasm-ph

738 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

Feasibility of Negative Triangularity Equilibria in the SPARC Tokamak

This study demonstrates that while negative triangularity operation in the SPARC tokamak is feasible with moderate plasma currents and stable MHD performance, it necessitates a significant reduction in plasma volume and connection length due to the device's positive-triangularity-optimized geometry, thereby positioning SPARC as a valuable experimental bridge for validating negative triangularity concepts under reactor-relevant conditions.

Narin Yüksek, Theodore Golfinopoulos2026-03-03
🔭 astrophysics

Turbulent Heating between 0.2 and 1 au: A Numerical Study

This numerical study demonstrates that MHD turbulent simulations using the expanding box model can reproduce the observed 1/R radial temperature profile of the slow solar wind between 0.2 and 1 AU, provided the turbulence begins with a Mach number of unity and a quasi-2D spectral anisotropy, albeit with limitations imposed by the modest Reynolds numbers achievable at such high Mach speeds.

Victor Montagud-Camps, Roland Grappin, Andrea Verdini2026-03-03
🔭 astrophysics

Rugged magneto-hydrodynamic invariants in weakly collisional plasma turbulence: Two-dimensional hybrid simulation results

This paper presents two-dimensional hybrid simulation results demonstrating that in weakly collisional plasma turbulence with high cross helicity, both combined energy and cross helicity undergo a cascade from large to small scales driven by MHD and Hall non-linearities before being dissipated, whereas magnetic helicity remains negligible and the mixed helicity exhibits behavior distinct from the energy cascade.

Petr Hellinger, Victor Montagud-Camps2026-03-03
🔬 physics

A theoretical model for quantifying the imprinting sensitivity of direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions

This paper presents a theoretical model and experimental validation demonstrating that stable direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions can be achieved by maintaining laser imprinting amplitudes below one-tenth of target surface perturbations, thereby establishing a threshold for prioritizing either target quality or laser smoothing depending on the specific regime.

Dongxue Liu, Jiaqin Dong, Yunxing Liu, Zhiyu He, Wei Wang, Yuqiu Gu, Xiuguang Huang, Jian Zheng2026-03-03
🔭 astrophysics

Evolution of Spatial Complexity in Flare Ribbon Substructure and Its Relationship to Magnetic Reconnection Dynamics

This paper introduces a new method to quantify the multi-scale spatial complexity of flare ribbon substructure using box-counting and correlation dimensions, demonstrating that increased complexity serves as an observational proxy for current-sheet fragmentation and correlates strongly with hard X-ray emission, reconnection rates, and non-thermal velocities.

Marcel F. Corchado Albelo, Maria D. Kazachenko, Ryan J. French, Vadim M. Uritsky, Emily Mason, Cole A. Tamburri, Rahul Y (…)2026-03-02
🔭 astrophysics

Transition of Magnetic Reconnection Regimes in Partially Ionized Plasmas

This study employs a novel three-fluid numerical model to systematically map the transition of magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasmas across ion-neutral collisionality and ionization fraction, revealing a shift from a χ1/4\chi^{1/4}-scaled regime to a fast, ionization-independent regime where current sheets thin to the ion inertial length and outflows remain Alfvénic.

Liang Wang, Chuanfei Dong, Yi-Min Huang, Yue Yuan, Xinmin Li, Yang Zhang2026-03-02
⚛️ quantum physics

Numerical Simulations of 3D Ion Crystal Dynamics in a Penning Trap using the Fast Multipole Method

This paper presents a new molecular dynamics simulation using the Fast Multipole Method to efficiently model laser cooling in large 3D Penning trap ion crystals, demonstrating that thousands of ions can be cooled to ultracold temperatures with linear computational scaling, thereby validating their potential for future quantum science experiments.

John Zaris, Wes Johnson, Athreya Shankar, John J. Bollinger, Scott E. Parker2026-02-27