Nonlinear turbulent parallel momentum transport due to blobs

Abstract

The nonlinear flux term induced by blobs is derived by using an eddy damped quasi-normal Markovian method in a three dimensional Hasegawa–Wakatani system with a strong non-adiabatic assumption. It is shown that the nonlinear flux is comparable to the quasilinear flux in the case of mixing level turbulence and can become dominant in strong turbulence regimes such as blobs. Moreover, when strong non-adiabatic or strong parallel flow shear conditions are considered, for radially elongated blobs or streamers, nonlinear residual flux can provide the opposite parallel momentum flux to the quasilinear flux and negative nonlinear diffusivity, which introduces inward momentum flux, so that rotation in the edge region is possibly reversed and momentum is convected into the core region.