Gyrokinetic Formalism Research Articles

Electrostatic waves in general magnetic field configurations

A scheme for investigating linear electrostatic waves in general magnetically confined plasmas is presented. The scheme is a generalization of the low-frequency (less than the cyclotron frequency) gyrokinetic formalism of Rutherford and Frieman as well as Taylor and Hastie to arbitrary frequencies. Governing integral wave equations for slab plasmas with magnetic shear as well as axisymmetric tokamaks are then derived to illustrate the applications.

Nonlinear gyrokinetic equations for low-frequency electromagnetic waves in general plasma equilibria

A nonlinear gyrokinetic formalism for low-frequency (less than the cyclotron frequency) microscopic electromagnetic perturbations in general magnetic field configurations is developed. The nonlinear equations thus derived are valid in the strong-turbulence regime and contain effects due to finite Larmor radius, plasma inhomogeneities, and magnetic field geometries. The specific case of axisymmetric tokamaks is then considered and a model nonlinear equation is derived for electrostatic drift waves. Also, applying the formalism to the shear Alfvén wave heating scheme, it is found that nonlinear ion Landau damping of kinetic shear-Alfvén waves is modified, both qualitatively and quantitatively, by the diamagnetic drift effects. In particular, wave energy is found to cascade in wavenumber instead of frequency.