Multiscale Gyrokinetics for Rotating Tokamak Plasmas: Fluctuations, Transport and Energy Flows

Understand

This paper presents a complete theoretical framework for plasma turbulence and transport in tokamak plasmas.

• The fundamental scale separations present in plasma turbulence are codified as an asymptotic expansion in the ratio of the gyroradius to the equilibrium scale length.
• Proceeding order-by-order in this expansion, a framework for plasma turbulence is developed.
• It comprises an instantaneous equilibrium, the fluctuations driven by gradients in the equilibrium quantities, and the transport-timescale evolution of mean profiles of these quantities driven by the fluctuations.