Magnetic field-aligned plasma expansion in critical ionization velocity space experiments

The temporal evolution of a plasma cloud released in an ambient plasma is studied. Time-dependent Vlasov equations for both electrons and ions, as well as the self-consistent electric field parallel to the ambient magnetic field, are solved. The initial cloud is considered to consist of cold, warm, and hot electrons with temperatures of approximately 0.2 eV, 2 eV, and 10 eV, respectively. It is found that the minor hot electrons escape the cloud; their velocity distribution function shows the typical time-of-flight dispersion feature, i.e. the average drift velocity of the escaping electrons is proportional to the distance from the cloud. The major warm electrons expand along the magnetic field lines with the corresponding ion-acoustic speed. The combined effect of the escaping hot electrons and the expanding warm ones sets up an electric potential structure that accelerates the ambient electrons into the cloud. Thus, the energy loss due to the electron escape is partly replenished. The electric field distribution in the potential structure depends on the stage of the evolution; before the rarefaction waves propagating from the edges of the cloud reach its center, the electric fields point into the cloud. After this stage the cloud divides into two subclouds, each having its own bipolar electric field. The effects of collisions on the evolution of plasma clouds are also discussed. The relevance of the results seen from the calculations are discussed in the context of space experiments on critical ionization velocity