Three-dimensional gyrokinetic simulation of the relaxation of a magnetized temperature filament

Abstract

An electromagnetic, 3D gyrokinetic particle code is used to study the relaxation of a magnetized electron temperature filament embedded in a large, uniform plasma of lower temperature. The study provides insight into the role played by unstable drift-Alfvén waves observed in a basic electron heat transport experiment [D. C. Pace et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 122304 (2008)] in which anomalous cross-field transport has been documented. The simulation exhibits the early growth of temperature-gradient-driven, drift-Alfvén fluctuations that closely match the eigenmodes predicted by linear theory. At the onset of saturation, the unstable fluctuations display a spiral spatial pattern, similar to that observed in the laboratory, which causes the rearrangement of the temperature profile. After saturation of the linear instability, the system exhibits a markedly different behavior depending on the inclusion in the computation of modes without variation along the magnetic field, i.e., kz = 0. In their absence, the initial filament evolves into a broadened temperature profile, self-consistent with undamped, finite amplitude drift-Alfvén waves. But the inclusion of kz = 0 modes causes the destruction of the filament and damping of the drift-Alfvén modes leading to a final state consisting of undamped convective cells and multiple, smaller-scale filaments.