Investigation of flute instability in application to laboratory astrophysics and Z-pinch experiments

Abstract

Interaction of plasma flows with magnetic fields can lead to excitation of flute-like oscillations. These oscillations can also be excited in Z-pinch plasmas. We have developed understanding of nonlinear dynamics of compressible flute mode turbulence with spatial scales comparable to the ion Larmor radius in a high beta plasma, when these modes become electromagnetic and in the presence of a non-uniform magnetic field. It is shown that the flute waves are responsible for generation of large scale structures of streamer and zonal flow types as well as Kolmogorov type spectra in the short scale region. The relevance of the obtained results to laboratory astrophysics and Z-pinch experiments is discussed.