An E & B Gyrokinetic Simulation Model for Kinetic Alfv\'en Waves inTokamak Plasmas

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new gyrokinetic simulation model using electric and magnetic fields for tokamak plasmas, demonstrating its accuracy and effectiveness in modeling kinetic Alfvén waves and electron dynamics.

Contribution

The paper develops and verifies a comprehensive GK-E&B model in tokamak geometry, extending previous uniform plasma models and demonstrating its capabilities in realistic plasma regimes.

Findings

Accurate simulation of kinetic Alfvén waves in tokamak geometry.

Effective treatment of electron Landau damping in realistic parameters.

Capability to model finite parallel electric fields due to electron mass.

Abstract

The gyrokinetic particle simulation serves as a powerful tool for the studies of transport, nonlinear phenomenon, and energetic particle physics in tokamak plasmas. While most gyrokinetic simulations make use of the scalar and vector potentials, a new model (GK-E&B) has been developed by using the E and B field in a general and comprehensive form and has been implemented in simulating kinetic Alfv\'en waves in uniform plasma [Chen et al, Science China Phys. Mechanics & Astronomy 64 (2021)]. In our work, the Chen et al. GK-E&B model has been expressed in general tokamak geometry explicitly using specific coordinates. Its reduction to the uniform plasma is verified and the numerical results show good agreement with the work by Chen et al. The theoretical dispersion relation and numerical results in the local screw pinch model are in excellent agreement. Numerical results show excellent performance in a realistic parameter regime of burning plasmas in terms of high values of $\beta /( M_e k_\perp^2 \rho_i^2)$, which is challenging for traditional methods due to the ``cancellation' problem. As one application, the GK-E&B model is implemented with kinetic electrons in the local limit. With the matched ITPA-TAE parameters, numerical results show the capability of the GK-E&B in treating the parallel electron Landau damping for realistic tokamak plasma parameters. As another application, the global GK-E&B model is implemented with the dominant electron contribution to $E_\|$ in the cold electron limit. Its capability in simulating the finite $E_\|$ due to the finite electron mass is demonstrated.