25 Years of Self-organized Criticality: Space and Laboratory Plasmas Articles uri icon

authors

  • SHARMA, A. SURJALAL
  • ASCHWANDEN, MARKUS J.
  • CROSBY, NORMA B.
  • KLIMAS, ALEXANDER J.
  • MILOVANOV, ALEXANDER V.
  • MORALES, LAURA
  • SANCHEZ FERNANDEZ, LUIS RAUL
  • URITSKY, VADIM

publication date

  • January 2016

start page

  • 167

end page

  • 216

issue

  • 1-4

volume

  • 198

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0038-6308

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1572-9672

abstract

  • Studies of complexity in extended dissipative dynamical systems, in nature and in laboratory, require multiple approaches and the framework of self-organized criticality (SOC) has been used extensively in the studies of such nonequilibrium systems. Plasmas are inherently nonlinear and many ubiquitous features such as multiscale behavior, intermittency and turbulence have been analyzed using SOC concepts. The role of SOC in advancing our understanding of space and laboratory plasmas as nonequilibrium systems is reviewed in this article. The main emphasis is on how SOC and related approaches have provided new insights and models of nonequilibrium plasma phenomena. Among the natural plasmas the magnetosphere, driven by the solar wind, is a prominent example and extensive data from ground-based and space-borne instruments have been used to study phenomena of direct relevance to space weather, viz. geomagnetic storms and substorms. During geomagnetically active periods the magnetosphere is far from equilibrium, due to its internal dynamics and being driven by the turbulent solar wind, and substorms are prominent features of the complex driven system. Studies using solar wind and magnetospheric data have shown both global and multiscale features of substorms. While the global behavior exhibits system-wide changes, the multiscale behavior shows scaling features. Along with the studies based on observational data, analogue models of the magnetosphere have advanced the understanding of space plasmas as well as the role of SOC in natural systems. In laboratory systems, SOC has been used in modeling the plasma behavior in fusion experiments, mainly in tokamaks and stellarators. Tokamaks are the dominant plasma confinement system and modeling based on SOC have provided a complementary approach to the understanding of plasma behavior under fusion conditions.

keywords

  • self-organized criticality; nonequilibrium systems; multiscale phenomena; turbulence; space plasmas; tokamaks; long range correlations; detrended fluctuation analysis; magnetosphere ionosphere system; magnetic confinement devices; magnetotail current sheet; auroral electrojet index; solar wind fluctuations; simple avalanche model; power law distribution; dual scaling regimes