Non-Ambipolarity of Microturbulent Transport

Physics > Plasma Physics [Submitted on 22 Jan 2026 (v1), last revised 18 Jun 2026 (this version, v3)] Title:Non-Ambipolarity of Microturbulent Transport View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:When exact magnetic surfaces are assumed to exist, the gyrokinetic theory of microturbulence gives the same radial transport for ions and electrons. But, exact magnetic surfaces do not exist in the presence of what is called electrostatic microturbulence. When the plasma pressure is non-zero, a turbulent electric potential is accompanied by a turbulent magnetic field, which splits the rational magnetic surfaces with which it resonates. If the magnetic field is assumed to have an ideal topology-conserving evolution, delta function current densities arise on resonant surfaces. The singularity of the current density allows islands to open quickly, but there is no singularity that allows a rapid closure. Islands remain and do not flutter into and out of existence. A relative rotation of the electron fluid in neighboring island chains produces a non-dissipative force that can lock the islands together and produce a non-ambipolar transport. At sufficient plasma pressure, the islands associated with different resonant rational surfaces can overlap. When this occurs some magnetic field lines will cross the entire radial region occupied by overlapping islands. The effect on the electron fluid is to create a viscosity-like force, which is dissipative and tends to remove gradients in the electron rotation. This also produces a non-ambipolar transport. Under many assumptions, the island locking force is larger than the viscosity-like force. Submission history From: Allen Boozer [view email][v1] Thu, 22 Jan 2026 05:20:38 UTC (293 KB) [v2] Fri, 8 May 2026 20:27:58 UTC (295 KB) [v3] Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:16:05 UTC (302 KB) Current browse context: physics.plasm-ph Change to browse by: References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.