Fluid and drift-kinetic description of a magnetized plasma with low collisionality and slow dynamics orderings. I. Electron theory

Abstract

A closed theoretical model to describe slow, macroscopic plasma processes in a fusion-relevant collisionality regime is set forward. This formulation is a hybrid one, with fluid conservation equations for particle number, momentum and energy, and drift-kinetic closures. Intended for realistic application to the core of a high-temperature tokamak plasma, the proposed approach is unconventional in that the ion collisionality is ordered lower than in the ion banana regime of neoclassical theory. The present first part of a two-article series concerns the electron system, which is still equivalent to one based on neoclassical electron banana orderings. This system is derived such that it ensures the precise compatibility among the complementary fluid and drift-kinetic equations, and the rigorous treatment of the electric field and the Fokker–Planck–Landau collision operators. As an illustrative application, the special limit of an axisymmetric equilibrium is worked out in detail.