Geodesic extended modes in low magnetic shear tokamaks and stellarators

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Nies, Richard, Parra, Felix
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Nies, Richard
Parra, Felix
author_facet Nies, Richard
Parra, Felix
contents Theories of ion-scale microinstabilities in tokamaks and stellarators typically assume that the passing electrons respond adiabatically due to their fast propagation speed. However, when the magnetic shear becomes sufficiently small, ion-scale modes can extend far along the magnetic field and the non-adiabatic response of passing electrons becomes important. We derive a theory of extended modes at low magnetic shear through a multiscale expansion of the gyrokinetic equation. The theory elucidates the physics of the geodesic extended mode, a new type of microinstability. The new mode couples the non-adiabatic physics of both electrons and ions, unlike extended modes at magnetic shear of order unity. The theory is validated against gyrokinetic simulations and the parameter dependences of the new mode are studied.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_21813
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Geodesic extended modes in low magnetic shear tokamaks and stellarators
Nies, Richard
Parra, Felix
Plasma Physics
Theories of ion-scale microinstabilities in tokamaks and stellarators typically assume that the passing electrons respond adiabatically due to their fast propagation speed. However, when the magnetic shear becomes sufficiently small, ion-scale modes can extend far along the magnetic field and the non-adiabatic response of passing electrons becomes important. We derive a theory of extended modes at low magnetic shear through a multiscale expansion of the gyrokinetic equation. The theory elucidates the physics of the geodesic extended mode, a new type of microinstability. The new mode couples the non-adiabatic physics of both electrons and ions, unlike extended modes at magnetic shear of order unity. The theory is validated against gyrokinetic simulations and the parameter dependences of the new mode are studied.
title Geodesic extended modes in low magnetic shear tokamaks and stellarators
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.21813