UC San Diego

A kinetic generalization of a Taylor identity appropriate to a strongly magnetized plasma is derived. This relation provides an explicit link between the radial mixing of a four-dimensional (4D) gyrocenter fluid and the poloidal Reynolds stress. This kinetic analog of a Taylor identity is subsequently utilized to link the turbulent transport of poloidal momentum to the mixing of potential vorticity. A quasilinear calculation of the flux of potential vorticity is carried out, yielding diffusive, turbulent equipartition, and thermoelectric convective components. Self-consistency is enforced via the quasineutrality relation, revealing that for the case of a stationary small amplitude wave population, deviations from neoclassical predictions of poloidal rotation can be closely linked to the growth/damping profiles of the underlying drift wave microturbulence. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.