Fluctuations, turbulence, and transports in the presence of drift waves

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980 · Phys. Fluids; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.862887· OSTI ID:6998342

Okuda, H; Sato, T; Hasegawa, A; Pellat, R

Turbulence spectrum and plasma diffusion have been studied using theoretical analysis and numerical simulations that use a drift wave model in which electrons are assumed to follow the Boltzmann distribution, while ions are assumed to move two dimensionally in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. For a plasma near local thermal equilibrium, it is found that while the ion density diffusion is negligibly small, the energy diffusion is much larger and is comparable to the test particle diffusion. In the presence of strong turbulence, deltanapprox.n/sub 0/, where deltan and n/sub 0/ are fluctuating density and average density, fluctuation energy is found to cascade toward long wavelength modes which accompany the density diffusion. The resultant turbulence spectrum is isotropic in two dimensions perpendicular to the magnetic field. However, the particle diffusion coefficient remains small. When the ion density gradient is maintained by freezing the electron background density, it is found that the turbulence spectrum cascades toward smaller wavenumbers only in the direction perpendicular to the density gradient. As a result an anisotropic turbulence spectrum is formed indicating the appearance of zonal flow in this direction.

• Research Organization: Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-02-3073
• OSTI ID: 6998342
• Journal Information: Phys. Fluids; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Fluids; (United States) Vol. 23:10; ISSN PFLDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700107* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Instabilities
700108 -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Wave Phenomena
ANISOTROPY
BOLTZMANN STATISTICS
DIFFUSION
DRIFT INSTABILITY
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
FLUCTUATIONS
FOURIER ANALYSIS
HOMOGENEOUS PLASMA
INHOMOGENEOUS PLASMA
INSTABILITY
LEPTONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MICROINSTABILITIES
PLASMA SIMULATION
PLASMA WAVES
SIMULATION
SPECTRA
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
TRANSPORT THEORY
TURBULENCE
VARIATIONS