An E & B Gyrokinetic Simulation Model for Alfvén Waves in screw pinch and Tokamak Plasmas

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 has been developed by using the E and B field [1,2]. This method shows excellent performance in a realistic parameter regime of burning plasmas in terms of high values of ??/(M_e k_⟂² ??_i²). 

In this work, the formulation in general tokamak geometry has been derived. Its reduction to the slab geometry is obtained and the numerical results show good agreement with the original work [1]. The theoretical derivation of the dispersion relation and numerical results in the local model in screw pinch geometry are also in excellent agreement.

This model is implemented in torus geometry. The Toroidal Alfven Eigenmode (TAE) is simulated with electrons included. The mode frequency and the damping rate are compared with those using the traditional schemes [3], for the cases defined by the ITPA topical group. Its capability in higher ??/(M_e k_⟂² ??_i²) regime is studied, demonstrating its potential in burning plasmas [4].