Comparison of kinetic and extended magnetohydrodynamics computational models for the linear ion temperature gradient instability in slab geometry

Abstract

We perform linear stability studies of the ion temperature gradient (ITG) instability in unsheared slab geometry using kinetic and extended magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models, in the regime k∥/k⊥≪1. The ITG is a parallel (to B) sound wave that may be destabilized by finite ion Larmor radius (FLR) effects in the presence of a gradient in the equilibrium ion temperature. The ITG is stable in both ideal and resistive MHD; for a given temperature scale length LTi0, instability requires that either k⊥ρi or ρi/LTi0 be sufficiently large. Kinetic models capture FLR effects to all orders in either parameter. In the extended MHD model, these effects are captured only to lowest order by means of the Braginskii ion gyro-viscous stress tensor and the ion diamagnetic heat flux. We present the linear electrostatic dispersion relations for the ITG for both kinetic Vlasov and extended MHD (two-fluid) models in the local approximation. In the low frequency fluid regime, these reduce to the same cubic equation for the complex eigenvalue ω=ωr+iγ. An explicit solution is derived for the growth rate and real frequency in this regime. These are found to depend on a single non-dimensional parameter. We also compute the eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions with the extended MHD code NIMROD, and a hybrid kinetic δf code that assumes six-dimensional Vlasov ions and isothermal fluid electrons, as functions of k⊥ρi and ρi/LTi0 using a spatially dependent equilibrium. These solutions are compared with each other, and with the predictions of the local kinetic and fluid dispersion relations. Kinetic and fluid calculations agree well at and near the marginal stability point, but diverge as k⊥ρi or ρi/LTi0 increases. There is good qualitative agreement between the models for the shape of the unstable global eigenfunction for LTi0/ρi=30 and 20. The results quantify how far fluid calculations can be extended accurately into the kinetic regime. We conclude that for the linear ITG problem in slab geometry with unsheared magnetic field when k∥/k⊥≪1, the extended MHD model may be a reliable physical model for this problem when ρi/LTi0<10−2 and k⊥ρi<0.2.