Experimental observations of microturbulence-suppressed parallel heat conduction in a weakly collisional, high-\b{eta} plasma
Abstract
Classical theories of heat conduction in magnetized plasma predict that thermal transport, mediated by Coulomb collisions of electrons, occurs predominantly along magnetic field lines. Recent theoretical and computational studies challenge this description for weakly collisional, magnetized plasmas in which thermal pressure dominates magnetic pressure (so-called high-\b{eta} plasmas). Such plasmas, which include the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters and inertial-confinement-fusion hot spots, are thought to be susceptible to kinetic-scale microinstabilities that can suppress parallel heat conduction. Revised theories of heat conduction accounting for these instabilities have been proposed, but experimental data with which to benchmark them are lacking. Here, we report experiments at the Orion laser facility in which the temporal evolution of temperature of a high-\b{eta}, weakly collisional plasma is sensitive primarily to the thermal conductivity along its initially quasi-laminar magnetic field. We characterize the temperature, density and magnetic field using x-ray spectroscopy and imaging, and proton imaging. Once stochastic magnetic fluctuations develop, the measured temperature evolution requires suppression of thermal conduction by at least an order of magnitude relative to classical predictions, providing the first laboratory evidence linking magnetic microturbulence with suppression of heat conduction in a high-\b{eta} plasma.
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BibTeX
@misc{vincent2026experimental,
title = {{Experimental observations of microturbulence-suppressed parallel heat conduction in a weakly collisional, high-\beta plasma}},
author = {T. A. Vincent and P. Ariyathilaka and L. Creaser and C. Danson and R. Davies and D. Lamb and J. Meinecke and C. A. J. Palmer and S. Pitt and H. Poole and C. Spindloe and P. Thomas and E. R. Tubman and L. Wilson and W. Garbett and G. Gregori and P. Tzeferacos and T. Hodge and A. F. A. Bott},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.08530},
eprint = {2610.08530},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08530},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Experimental observations of microturbulence-suppressed parallel heat conduction in a weakly collisional, high-\b{eta} plasma
AU - T. A. Vincent
AU - P. Ariyathilaka
AU - L. Creaser
AU - C. Danson
AU - R. Davies
AU - D. Lamb
AU - J. Meinecke
AU - C. A. J. Palmer
AU - S. Pitt
AU - H. Poole
AU - C. Spindloe
AU - P. Thomas
AU - E. R. Tubman
AU - L. Wilson
AU - W. Garbett
AU - G. Gregori
AU - P. Tzeferacos
AU - T. Hodge
AU - A. F. A. Bott
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.08530
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08530
AB - Classical theories of heat conduction in magnetized plasma predict that thermal transport, mediated by Coulomb collisions of electrons, occurs predominantly along magnetic field lines. Recent theoretical and computational studies challenge this description for weakly collisional, magnetized plasmas in which thermal pressure dominates magnetic pressure (so-called high-\b{eta} plasmas). Such plasmas, which include the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters and inertial-confinement-fusion hot spots, are thought to be susceptible to kinetic-scale microinstabilities that can suppress parallel heat conduction. Revised theories of heat conduction accounting for these instabilities have been proposed, but experimental data with which to benchmark them are lacking. Here, we report experiments at the Orion laser facility in which the temporal evolution of temperature of a high-\b{eta}, weakly collisional plasma is sensitive primarily to the thermal conductivity along its initially quasi-laminar magnetic field. We characterize the temperature, density and magnetic field using x-ray spectroscopy and imaging, and proton imaging. Once stochastic magnetic fluctuations develop, the measured temperature evolution requires suppression of thermal conduction by at least an order of magnitude relative to classical predictions, providing the first laboratory evidence linking magnetic microturbulence with suppression of heat conduction in a high-\b{eta} plasma.
ER -