Effect of radial pressure corrugations and profile shearing on turbulence in Fusion plasmas

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: J, Ajay C., Pueschel, M. J., Ball, Justin, Hatch, David, Goerler, Tobias, Brunner, Stephan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author J, Ajay C.
Pueschel, M. J.
Ball, Justin
Hatch, David
Goerler, Tobias
Brunner, Stephan
author_facet J, Ajay C.
Pueschel, M. J.
Ball, Justin
Hatch, David
Goerler, Tobias
Brunner, Stephan
contents Microturbulence can produce stationary fine-scale radial corrugations on the plasma density and temperature gradients in magnetic confinement fusion devices. We show that these structures play a significant role in regulating turbulent transport. We focus on the pedestal, studying electron-temperature-gradient (ETG) mode destabilisation and saturation in the presence of radial corrugations on the electron temperature gradient that could result from microtearing turbulence. A linear dispersion relation is derived for a shearless slab case, which indicates that in the presence of a sinusoidal background corrugation, each ETG mode splits into three distinct eigenvalues, with one being the original, one being more unstable and one being less unstable. However, despite the presence of more unstable linear modes, nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of ETG with corrugated background electron temperature show a reduction of fluxes. Our investigation reveals a radial variation of the phase velocity of the modes that is proportional to the diamagnetic drift velocity and the local pressure gradient. The associated profile shearing breaks the turbulent eddies apart, reducing the transport level. This profile shearing resulting from fine-scale pressure corrugations could be a ubiquitous turbulence saturation mechanism not just in Fusion plasmas, but in Astrophysics and other areas.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_15513
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effect of radial pressure corrugations and profile shearing on turbulence in Fusion plasmas
J, Ajay C.
Pueschel, M. J.
Ball, Justin
Hatch, David
Goerler, Tobias
Brunner, Stephan
Plasma Physics
Microturbulence can produce stationary fine-scale radial corrugations on the plasma density and temperature gradients in magnetic confinement fusion devices. We show that these structures play a significant role in regulating turbulent transport. We focus on the pedestal, studying electron-temperature-gradient (ETG) mode destabilisation and saturation in the presence of radial corrugations on the electron temperature gradient that could result from microtearing turbulence. A linear dispersion relation is derived for a shearless slab case, which indicates that in the presence of a sinusoidal background corrugation, each ETG mode splits into three distinct eigenvalues, with one being the original, one being more unstable and one being less unstable. However, despite the presence of more unstable linear modes, nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of ETG with corrugated background electron temperature show a reduction of fluxes. Our investigation reveals a radial variation of the phase velocity of the modes that is proportional to the diamagnetic drift velocity and the local pressure gradient. The associated profile shearing breaks the turbulent eddies apart, reducing the transport level. This profile shearing resulting from fine-scale pressure corrugations could be a ubiquitous turbulence saturation mechanism not just in Fusion plasmas, but in Astrophysics and other areas.
title Effect of radial pressure corrugations and profile shearing on turbulence in Fusion plasmas
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.15513