Plasma rotation under a driven radial current in a tokamak

Abstract

The neoclassical behaviour of plasma rotation under a driven radial electrical current is studied in a tokamak geometry. An ambipolar radial electric field develops instantly in such a way that the driven current is balanced by a return current j p in the plasma. The j p × B torque pushes the plasma into a new rotation state both toroidally and poloidally. An anomalous toroidal viscosity is needed to avoid an extreme toroidal rotation speed. It is shown that the poloidal rotation relaxes to a new equilibrium speed, which is in general smaller than the E × B poloidal speed, and that the timescale for the relaxation of poloidal rotation is the same as that of toroidal rotation generation, which is usually much longer than the ion-ion collision time.