Two-Stream Instability and Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal Mode Formation in Coulomb One Component Plasma

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Hauptverfasser: Mir, Ajaz, Wani, Rauoof, Tiwari, Sanat, Sen, Abhijit
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Mir, Ajaz
Wani, Rauoof
Tiwari, Sanat
Sen, Abhijit
author_facet Mir, Ajaz
Wani, Rauoof
Tiwari, Sanat
Sen, Abhijit
contents We investigate the Two-Stream Instability in a strongly coupled plasma using classical molecular dynamics simulations with long-range Coulomb interactions between particles. The nonlinear evolution of the instability is identified by the emergence of a Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal (BGK) mode. Our simulations capture key microscopic effects, such as inter-particle correlations, collisional dynamics, and coherent wave-particle interactions-features often absent in traditional fluid and kinetic models, including Particle-In-Cell and Vlasov approaches. In the linear regime, the instability grows rapidly and saturates within a few tens of plasma periods. As the system transitions into the nonlinear saturation phase, a single BGK mode emerges. This mode (or phase-space hole) becomes dynamically unstable in the nonlinear regime, characterized by a continuous decay of electrostatic energy over time. An energy budget analysis reveals a bump in an otherwise thermal spectrum, indicating the excitation of a coherent mode, further confirmed through a numerical rendering of the dispersion relation. The pairwise interaction plays a crucial role: pronounced instability and BGK mode formation occur with long-range Coulomb forces, while such structures are suppressed under shielded Coulomb interactions. We observe the emergence of a single BGK mode across all coupling strengths in the fluid regime, provided the streaming velocity exceeds a critical threshold.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_19281
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Two-Stream Instability and Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal Mode Formation in Coulomb One Component Plasma
Mir, Ajaz
Wani, Rauoof
Tiwari, Sanat
Sen, Abhijit
Plasma Physics
We investigate the Two-Stream Instability in a strongly coupled plasma using classical molecular dynamics simulations with long-range Coulomb interactions between particles. The nonlinear evolution of the instability is identified by the emergence of a Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal (BGK) mode. Our simulations capture key microscopic effects, such as inter-particle correlations, collisional dynamics, and coherent wave-particle interactions-features often absent in traditional fluid and kinetic models, including Particle-In-Cell and Vlasov approaches. In the linear regime, the instability grows rapidly and saturates within a few tens of plasma periods. As the system transitions into the nonlinear saturation phase, a single BGK mode emerges. This mode (or phase-space hole) becomes dynamically unstable in the nonlinear regime, characterized by a continuous decay of electrostatic energy over time. An energy budget analysis reveals a bump in an otherwise thermal spectrum, indicating the excitation of a coherent mode, further confirmed through a numerical rendering of the dispersion relation. The pairwise interaction plays a crucial role: pronounced instability and BGK mode formation occur with long-range Coulomb forces, while such structures are suppressed under shielded Coulomb interactions. We observe the emergence of a single BGK mode across all coupling strengths in the fluid regime, provided the streaming velocity exceeds a critical threshold.
title Two-Stream Instability and Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal Mode Formation in Coulomb One Component Plasma
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.19281