Anomalous Perturbative Transport In Tokamaks Due To Drift Wave Turbulence

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Download or read book Possible Effects of Drift Wave Turbulence on Magnetic Structure and Plasma Transport in Tokamaks written by and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new mechanism is proposed by which low level, drift wave type fluctuations, such as those observed in the ATC and TFR experiments, can cause anomalous radial electron heat transport in tokamaks. The model is based on the fact that since transport processes parallel to the magnetic field are many orders of magnitude more rapid than perpendicular ones, very small helically resonant magnetic perturbations that cause field lines to move radially allow the parallel transport process to contribute to radial electron heat transport. It is hypothesized that the small magnetic perturbations accompanying drift waves at any nonzero plasma .beta. are large enough to produce significant effects in present tokamak experiments. The helical magnetic component of drift waves produces magnetic island structures whose spatial widths can easily exceed the ion gyroradius. In a drift wave oscillation period, electrons circumnavigate a magnetic island, whereas the slower moving ions see only a tilt of the magnetic field lines. Thus, electrons try to diffuse radially more rapidly than ions; however, a radialpotential builds up on a very short time scale to confine the electrons electrostatically and thereby keep the particle diffusion ambipolar. Nonetheless, this parallel electron diffusion process does cause net radial electron heat conduction through an ensemble of closely packed island structures. The heat conduction coefficient is estimated. Other effects that these magnetic flutters may have on plasma transport and runaway electron processes are also discussed.