RESUMO
Multiscale gyrokinetic turbulence simulations with the real ion-to-electron mass ratio and ß value are realized for the first time, where the ß value is given by the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure and characterizes electromagnetic effects on microinstabilities. Numerical analysis at both the electron scale and the ion scale is used to reveal the mechanism of their cross-scale interactions. Even with the real-mass scale separation, ion-scale turbulence eliminates electron-scale streamers and dominates heat transport, not only of ions but also of electrons. Suppression of electron-scale turbulence by ion-scale eddies, rather than by long-wavelength zonal flows, is also demonstrated by means of direct measurement of nonlinear mode-to-mode coupling. When the ion-scale modes are stabilized by finite-ß effects, the contribution of the electron-scale dynamics to the turbulent transport becomes non-negligible and turns out to enhance ion-scale turbulent transport. Damping of the ion-scale zonal flows by electron-scale turbulence is responsible for the enhancement of ion-scale transport.
RESUMO
Turbulent transport near the critical gradient in toroidal plasmas is studied based on global Landau-fluid simulations and an extended predator-prey theoretical model of ion temperature gradient turbulence. A new type of intermittent transport associated with the emission and propagation of a geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) is found near the critical gradient regime, which is referred to as GAM intermittency. The intermittency is characterized by new time scales of trigger, damping, and recursion due to GAM damping. During the recursion of intermittent bursts, stationary zonal flow increases with a slow time scale due to the accumulation of undamped residues and eventually quenches the turbulence, suggesting that a nonlinear upshift of the critical gradient, i.e., Dimits shift, is established through such a dynamical process.