Equilibrium potential well due to finite Larmor radius effects at the tokamak edge

Abstract

We present a novel mechanism for producing an equilibrium potential well near the edge of a tokamak. Briefly, because of the difference in gyroradii between electrons and ions, an equilibrium electrostatic potential is generated in the presence of spatial inhomogeneity of the background plasma, which, in turn, produces a well associated with the radial electric field, Er, as observed at the edge of many tokamak experiments. We will show that this theoretically predicted Er field, which can be regarded as producing a long radial wavelength zonal flow, agrees well with recent experimental measurements. The relationship between the equilibrium configuration used in this study and that of the Woltjer-Taylor state will be discussed.