Sideband Relaxation in a Tokamak

The pathway of relaxation to slowly varying conditions from an

arbitrary initial state is detailed. In a simplfied sideband model

the interaction between profiles and sin/cos sidebands for pairs of

state and flux variables is covered. The time scale hierarchy is

separated, as first Alfven and then geodesic oscillations damp away,

and then on the ion collisional time scale the electric field is

established, and then on the much slower confinement time the

conserved quantities are transported.

Computational cases are given for various moment levels kept in the

gyrofluid hierarchy. This is an update of 2014 APS/DPP work on the

same subject, now for moment levels up to thirty for each species.