Unlike-particle collision operator for gyrokinetic particle simulations

Abstract

Plasmas in modern tokamak experiments contain a significant fraction of impurity ion species in addition to main deuterium background. A new unlike-particle collision operator for δf particle simulation has been developed to self-consistently study the non-local effects of impurities on neoclassical transport in toroidal plasmas. A new algorithm for simulation of cross-collisions between different ion species includes test-particle and conserving field-particle operators. The field-particle operator is designed to enforce conservation of number, momentum and energy. It was shown that the new operator correctly simulates the thermal equilibration of different plasma components. It was verified that the ambipolar radial electric field reaches steady state when the total radial guiding center particle current vanishes.