Zonal fields as catalysts and inhibitors of turbulence-driven magnetic islands -Supplementary Material
Résumé
A novel coalescence process is shown to take place in plasma fluid simulations, leading to the
formation of large-scale magnetic islands that become dynamically important in the system. The
parametric dependence of the process on the plasma β and the background magnetic shear is
studied, and the process is broken down at a fundamental level, allowing to clearly identify its
causes and dynamics. The formation of magnetic-island-like structures at the spatial scale of the
unstable modes is observed quite early in the non-linear phase of the simulation for most cases
studied, as the unstable modes change their structure from interchange-like to tearing-like. This is
followed by a slow coalescence process that evolves these magnetic structures towards larger and
larger scales, adding to the large-scale tearing-like modes that already form by direct coupling of
neighbouring unstable modes, but remain sub-dominant without the contribution from the smaller
scales through coalescence. The presence of the cubic non-linearities retained in the model is
essential in the dynamics of this process. The zonal fields are key actors of the overall process,
acting as mediators between the competitive mechanisms from which Turbulence Driven Magnetic
Islands can develop. The zonal current is found to slow down the formation of large-scale magnetic
islands, acting as an inhibitor, while the zonal flow is needed to allow the system to transfer energy
to the larger scales, acting as a catalyst for the island formation process.
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