Toroidal differential rotation (shear flow) produced by E x B drift in tokamak plasmas is current... more Toroidal differential rotation (shear flow) produced by E x B drift in tokamak plasmas is currently regarded important for its role in plasma equilibrium, stability and transport. Experimental observations of enhanced confinement and transport regimes in Tokamaks, especially during H-modes and reverse magnetic shear configurations demonstrate, however, evidence of the existence of strong drifts, corresponding not only to the E x B drift, but also produced by steep radial profiles of density [N{sub s}], temperature [T{sub s}] and mass flow [V = {omega}Re{sub {var_phi}}, with e{sub {var_phi}} the toroidal unit vector, R the distance for the symmetry axis of the torus and {omega} being the toroidal angular rotation velocity]. Thus, a fundamental problem appears the formulation of the gyrokinetic equation in the presence of strong drifts, based on a consistent formulation of guiding-center mechanics. A further potentially important feature which seems desirable to address in this connection is the treatment of weakly relativistic corrections to the electron dynamics in such a general case, extending recent work on the weakly relativistic.
Toroidal differential rotation (shear flow) produced by E x B drift in tokamak plasmas is current... more Toroidal differential rotation (shear flow) produced by E x B drift in tokamak plasmas is currently regarded important for its role in plasma equilibrium, stability and transport. Experimental observations of enhanced confinement and transport regimes in Tokamaks, especially during H-modes and reverse magnetic shear configurations demonstrate, however, evidence of the existence of strong drifts, corresponding not only to the E x B drift, but also produced by steep radial profiles of density [N{sub s}], temperature [T{sub s}] and mass flow [V = {omega}Re{sub {var_phi}}, with e{sub {var_phi}} the toroidal unit vector, R the distance for the symmetry axis of the torus and {omega} being the toroidal angular rotation velocity]. Thus, a fundamental problem appears the formulation of the gyrokinetic equation in the presence of strong drifts, based on a consistent formulation of guiding-center mechanics. A further potentially important feature which seems desirable to address in this connection is the treatment of weakly relativistic corrections to the electron dynamics in such a general case, extending recent work on the weakly relativistic.
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