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Updated: May 16, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
New thermodynamical force in plasma phase space that controls turbulence and turbulent transport
1Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasuga-Koen, Kasuga-city, 816-8580, Japan.
Abstract:
Physics of turbulence and turbulent transport has been developed on the central dogma that spatial gradients constitute the controlling parameters, such as Reynolds number and Rayleigh number. Recent experiments with the nonequilibrium plasmas in magnetic confinement devices, however, have shown that the turbulence and transport change much faster than global parameters, after an abrupt change of heating power. Here we propose a theory of turbulence in inhomogeneous magnetized plasmas, showing that the heating power directly influences the turbulence. New mechanism, that an external source couples with plasma fluctuations in phase space so as to affect turbulence, is investigated. A new thermodynamical force in phase-space, i.e., the derivative of heating power by plasma pressure, plays the role of new control parameter, in addition to spatial gradients. Following the change of turbulence, turbulent transport is modified accordingly. The condition under which this new effect can be observed is also evaluated.
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