Multiscale Phenomena in the Magnetized Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability

The magnetized Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) is known to develop macroscale plasma structures whose details depend on microscale physics. The magnetized KHI is simulated with two-species kinetic and fluid plasma models. Deviations between the simulations demonstrate the development of multiscale phenomena. Local plasma parameters are investigated as a means to identify the onset of multiscale effects and to characterize the relevant physics driving the phenomena. Insights from the localization suggest a method to strategically combine computationally efficient reduced models with higher fidelity models, which is facilitated using the finite-element continuum WARPXM framework. Initial applications of this domain-decomposed hybrid method include the magnetized KHI and plasma photonic crystals.