Finite. beta. and nonlocal calculation of collisionless and dissipative drift instabilities

Technical Report · Mon Apr 08 00:00:00 EDT 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5125639· OSTI ID:5125639

Krall, N A

Collisionless and dissipative drift waves, driven by gradients in the plasma density and/or temperatures, are believed to dominate or at least influence the transport properties of a variety of plasma confinement devices. In a study begun in reference to transport in the Field Reversed Configuration (FRC), we have developed a theory of these waves in a high {beta} plasma, including the effect of perturbed flow in the direction of the plasma density. This study was a natural extension of previous calculations; the {beta} = 1 nature of the FRC makes a proper treatment of high {beta} effects vital to an understanding of that device. In the course of this study we have obtained a comprehensive dispersion relation which shows clearly how the numerical dissipative drift wave instabilities evolve in wavenumber as {beta} increases. A major finding from this is that the effect of finite {beta} begins to dominate long before {beta} {yields} 1; the expansion parameter is {beta}f(k, a{sub i}, K, {omega}, L{sub n}) where f can be substantially greater than 1, depending on the wavenumber of the wave parallel to the magnetic field (K), the wavenumber parallel to the particle drifts (k), the wave frequency ({omega}), the strength of the density gradient (L{sub n}), and the ion gyroradius (a{sub i}). The fact that finite {beta} effects can onset for quite small {beta} make this study applicable to confinement schemes such as tokamak in which {beta} {approximately} 1--10% in addition to the natural application to the FRC. A second surprising fact from the study was that including finite {beta} could result in a compressional flow in the direction of the density gradient, and also a perturbed electric field in that direction, which changes the perturbed orbits.

• Research Organization: Krall Associates, Del Mar, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-88ER53280
• OSTI ID: 5125639
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/53280-T3; KA-91-08; ON: DE92001928
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
PLASMA WAVES
DRIFT INSTABILITY
REVERSED-FIELD MIRRORS
CHARGED-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
BOLTZMANN-VLASOV EQUATION
COLLISIONLESS PLASMA
HIGH-BETA PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PRESSURE GRADIENTS
PROGRESS REPORT
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EQUATIONS
INSTABILITY
MAGNETIC MIRRORS
OPEN PLASMA DEVICES
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MICROINSTABILITIES
RADIATION TRANSPORT
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
700107* - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Instabilities
700108 - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Wave Phenomena
700103 - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Kinetics