Generation of turbulence and its role in energy transport in collisionless plasmas

Establish the physical mechanisms responsible for the generation of turbulence in collisionless plasmas and determine the role that plasma turbulence plays in governing energy transport within such systems, in the kinetic (Vlasov–Poisson) framework.

Background

The paper studies kinetic turbulence and BGK equilibria in collisionless plasmas using high-resolution Vlasov–Poisson simulations, focusing on instability development, collisional effects, and Hermite spectral analysis of enstrophy cascades. While the work investigates specific nonlinear mechanisms and spectral behavior, it explicitly acknowledges that the broader questions of how turbulence is generated and how it transports energy in collisionless plasmas remain unresolved.

This open problem frames the motivation for analyzing BGK modes, electron acoustic waves, and phase-space cascades, as these phenomena are key components of kinetic plasma turbulence and may contribute to understanding energy transport pathways.

References

However, how turbulence is generated and what role it plays in energy transport remain open questions .

— Numerical investigation of kinetic instabilities in BGK equilibria under collisional effects  (2512.11478 - Zanelli et al., 12 Dec 2025) in Section 1, Introduction

Understanding how the small-scale turbulent dynamics couple into and influence the large-scale behavior of the system and how that affects the energy budget and energy transport at system scales remains an open challenge in plasma turbulence research.

— Anomalous Electric Fields in Earth's Turbulent Magnetosheath: Insights From 3D Hybrid Simulations  (2608.24326 - Rueda et al., 25 Aug 2026) in Section 1, Introduction