Trapped Electron Mode Turbulence Driven Intrinsic Rotation in Tokamak Plasmas

Journal Article · Fri Feb 25 04:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.106.085001· OSTI ID:21562064

Wang, W X; Hahm, T S; Ethier, S; Zakharov, L E; Diamond, P H ^[1]

---

1. Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, P.O. Box 451, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States); University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States)

Progress from global gyrokinetic simulations in understanding the origin of intrinsic rotation in toroidal plasmas is reported. The turbulence-driven intrinsic torque associated with nonlinear residual stress generation due to zonal flow shear induced asymmetry in the parallel wave number spectrum is shown to scale close to linearly with plasma gradients and the inverse of the plasma current, qualitatively reproducing experimental empirical scalings of intrinsic rotation. The origin of current scaling is found to be enhanced k{sub ||} symmetry breaking induced by the increased radial variation of the safety factor as the current decreases. The intrinsic torque is proportional to the pressure gradient because both turbulence intensity and zonal flow shear, which are two key ingredients for driving residual stress, increase with turbulence drive, which is R/L{sub T{sub e}} and R/L{sub n{sub e}} for the trapped electron mode.

• OSTI ID: 21562064
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 106; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASYMMETRY
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
CURRENTS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
LEPTONS
MOTION
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PRESSURE GRADIENTS
RESIDUAL STRESSES
ROTATION
SCALING
SHEAR
SIMULATION
SPECTRA
STRESSES
SYMMETRY BREAKING
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TORQUE
TRAPPED ELECTRONS
TURBULENCE