THEORY OF HYDRODYNAMIC TRAPPED-ION-TEMPERATURE-GRADIENT-DRIVEN TURBULENCE

A novel, nonlinearly coupled, two-dimensional (2-D), two-field set of equations is derived to model the turbulent dynamics of trapped-ion-temperature-gradient-driven convective cells. Statistical mechanical arguments are employed to show that, in spite of the two-dimensional character of the system, the direction of spectral energy flow is from large to small scales. Steady-state fluctuation levels are derived from the evolution equation for temperature spectra, and the ensuing particle and heat transport coefficients are shown to be comparable to conventional estimates associated with electron drift wave turbulence.