Shear flow driven drift waves and the counter-rotating vortices

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2116807· OSTI ID:20702283

Haque, Q; Saleem, H; Mirza, Arshad M ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) Institute of Information Technology, H-8 Islamabad, Pakistan and Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, PINSTECH (PRD), P.O. Nilore, Islamabad (Pakistan)

It is shown that the drift waves can become unstable due to the shear flow produced by externally applied electric field. The modified Rayleigh instability condition is obtained which is applicable to both electron-ion and electron-positron-ion plasmas. It is proposed that the shear flow driven drift waves can be responsible for large amplitude electrostatic fluctuations in tokamak edges. In the nonlinear regime the stationary structures may appear in electron-positron-ion plasmas as well as electron-ion plasmas. A particular form of the shear flow can give rise to counter-rotating dipole vortices and vortex chains. The speed and amplitude of the structures are affected by the presence of positrons in the electron ion plasma. The relevance of this investigation to laboratory and astrophysical plasmas is pointed out.

• OSTI ID: 20702283
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 12; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BOUNDARY LAYERS
DRIFT INSTABILITY
FLUCTUATIONS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PLASMA DRIFT
PLASMA WAVES
SHEAR
TOKAMAK DEVICES
VORTICES