A study of saturated magnetic island equilibria on the basis of the resistive magneto-hydro-dynamic model is presented. A bifurcation in the sequence of equilibria is found as the ratio of the width of the current layer in the initial (non-reconnected) configuration over the island periodicity length reaches a critical threshold. Below this threshold, spontaneous generation of zonal flows occurs. This result is suggestive of a possible evolution of current sheets in magnetically confined plasmas and may be relevant to the understanding of the suppression of drift-wave turbulence and the formation of internal transport barriers in tokamak experiments.
Magnetic islands and spontaneous generation of zonal flows / Grasso, Daniela; Margheriti, L; Tebaldi, Claudio; Porcelli, Francesco. - In: PLASMA PHYSICS AND CONTROLLED FUSION. - ISSN 0741-3335. - 48:(2006), pp. L87-L95.
Magnetic islands and spontaneous generation of zonal flows
GRASSO, DANIELA;TEBALDI, CLAUDIO;PORCELLI, Francesco
2006
Abstract
A study of saturated magnetic island equilibria on the basis of the resistive magneto-hydro-dynamic model is presented. A bifurcation in the sequence of equilibria is found as the ratio of the width of the current layer in the initial (non-reconnected) configuration over the island periodicity length reaches a critical threshold. Below this threshold, spontaneous generation of zonal flows occurs. This result is suggestive of a possible evolution of current sheets in magnetically confined plasmas and may be relevant to the understanding of the suppression of drift-wave turbulence and the formation of internal transport barriers in tokamak experiments.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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https://hdl.handle.net/11583/1524887
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