Critically Balanced Ion Temperature Gradient Turbulence in Fusion Plasmas

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.107.115003
• Publication Date: 2011-09-09T21:37:36Z
• Authors: M. Barnes; F. I. Parra; A. A. Schekochihin
• Keywords: Temperature Gradient; Gyrokinetics; Decorrelation; Zonal flow (plasma); Field line

Scaling laws for ion temperature gradient driven turbulence in magnetized toroidal plasmas are derived and compared with direct numerical simulations. Predicted dependences of fluctuation amplitudes, spatial scales, resulting heat fluxes on magnetic field line pitch found to agree results both the driving inertial ranges. Evidence is provided support critical balance conjecture that parallel streaming nonlinear perpendicular decorrelation times comparable at all leading a scaling relationship between scales. This indicates even strongly plasma intrinsically three dimensional.