Sheared rotation effects, ion- and electron-temperature fluctuations, and generalized form factors on drift waves

Abstract

The effect of inhomogeneous azimuthal flows in cylindrical geometry on drift waves with non-Boltzmann density response is investigated. Stabilization of dissipative drift waves by the inhomogeneous flow is also analyzed. Convective cells are shown to be destabilized by the discontinuous flow. Next, ion- and electron-temperature fluctuations in a resistive plasma are investigated in the slab approximation, allowing for the self-consistently stationary system parameters (electron- and ion-temperature inhomogeneities, magnetic shear, and plasma currents). Their magnitude, their propagation directions, and the dependence of their stability characteristics on the system parameters are identified, distinguishing between the weakly and the strongly collisional regions. Finally, the generalized form factor for density fluctuations in ion-temperature gradient modes is calculated. The resulting broad frequency spectrum is shown to stem from the fact that the linear growth rate is comparable to the real wave frequency.