Diffusion of charged particles in tokamak‐like stochastic magnetic and electric fields

Abstract

In this paper the diffusion of guiding centers induced by stochastic magnetic and electric field fluctuations, with both time and space dependence, is analyzed for the case of tokamak plasmas. General experimental results on tokamak fluctuations are used to derive guiding‐center equations that properly describe the particle motion. These equations assume uniform average magnetic and electric fields with random stationary Gaussian fluctuations that constitute a homogeneous and cylindrically symmetric turbulence. By applying Novikov’s theorem, a Fokker–Planck equation for the probability distribution function is derived and an expression for the guiding‐center diffusion coefficient is obtained. This coefficient not only contains the standard terms due to the stochastic wandering of the magnetic lines and the stochastic electric drift, but also new terms due to the stochastic curvature and ∇B drifts. The form of these terms is shown explicitly in terms of the correlation functions of the fields.