We present the simple map for a single-null divertor tokamak. The simple map is an area-preserving map based on the idea that magnetic field lines are a single-degree- of-freedom time-dependent Hamiltonian system, and that the basic features of such systems near the X-point are generic. We obtain the properties of this map and the resulting footprints of field lines on the divertor plate. These include the width of the stochastic layer, the edge safety factor, the area of the footprint and the amount of magnetic flux diverted. We give the safety factor profile, the average and median values of strike angles, lengths and the Liapunov exponents. We describe how the effects of magnetic perturbations can be included in the simple map. We show how the map can be applied to the problem of the determination of heat flux on the divertor plate in tokamaks.

Model equations describing the nonlinear coupling between electrostatic ion-cyclotron and drift waves are derived, taking into account the action of the low-frequency ponderomotive force associated with the ion-cyclotron waves. It is found that this interaction is governed by a pair of equations, which can be used for studying the modulational instability of a constant amplitude ion-cyclotron wave as well as the dynamics of nonlinearly coupled ion-cyclotron and drift waves.

Using the ion-temperature-gradient-driven drift waves as a paradigm for drift-wave anomalous transport, we explore the structure of the linear and nonlinear modes. Two phases of transport are shown to exist: (i) Bohm-like transport for parameters close to marginal stability; (ii) gyro-Bohm transport for turbulent convection cells in systems driven away from marginal stability. Nonlinear relaxation to large-scale coherent convective structures is observed in three-dimensional toroidal particle simulations.

Most theoretical and computational studies of turbulence in Navier—Stokes fluids and/or guiding-centre plasmas have been carried out in the presence of spatially periodic boundary conditions. In view of the frequently reproduced result that two-dimensional and/or MHD decaying turbulence leads to structures comparable in length scale to a box dimension, it is natural to ask if periodic boundary conditions are an adequate representation of any physical situation. Here, we study, computationally, the decay of two-dimensional turbulence in a Navier—Stokes fluid or guiding-centre plasma in the presence of circular no-slip rigid walls. The method is wholly spectral, and relies on a Galerkin approximation by a set of functions that obey two boundary conditions at the wall radius (analogues of the Chandrasekhar— Reid functions). It is possible to explore Reynolds numbers up to the order of 1250, based on an RMS velocity and a box radius. It is found that decaying turbulence is altered significantly by the no-slip boundaries. First, strong boundary layers serve as sources of vorticity and enstrophy and enhance the early-time energy decay rate, for a given Reynolds number, well above the periodic boundary condition values. More importantly, angular momentum turns out to be an even more slowly decaying ideal invariant than energy, and to a considerable extent governs the dynamics of the decay. Angular momentum must be taken into account, for example, in order to achieve quantitative agreeement with the predicition of maximum entropy, or ‘most probable’, states. These are predicitions of conditions that are established after several eddy turnover times but before the energy has decayed away. Angular momentum will cascade to lower azimuthal mode numbers, even if absent there initially, and the angular momentum modal spectrum is eventually dominated by the lowest mode available. When no initial angular momentum is present, no behaviour that suggests the likelihood of inverse cascades is observed.

We report on results from direct numerical simulation of the incompressible three- dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, modified to incorporate viscous dissipation via the strongly anisotropic ion-parallel viscosity term. Both linear and nonlinear cases are considered, all with a strong background magnetic field. It is found that spectral anisotropy develops in almost all cases, but that the contribution from effects associated with the ion-parallel viscosity is relatively weak compared with the previously reported nonlinear process. Furthermore, and in contrast to this earlier work, it is suggested that when B0 is large, the anisotropy will develop and persist for many large-scale turnover times even for non-dissipative runs. Resistive dissipation is found to dominate over viscous even when the resistivity is several orders of magnitude smaller than the ion parallel viscosity. A variance anisotropy effect and anisotropy dependence on the polarization of the fluctuations are also observed.

A simple phenomenology is developed for the decay and transport of turbulence in a constant-speed, uniformly expanding medium. The fluctuations are assumed to be locally incompressible, and either of the hydrodynamic or non-Alfvénic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) type. In order to represent local effects of nonlinearities, a simple model of the Kaármá-Dryden type for locally homogeneous turbulent decay is adopted. A detailed discussion of the parameters of this familiar one-point hydrodynamic closure is given, which has been shown recently to be applicable to non-Alfvénic MHD as well. The effects of the large-scale flow and expansion are incorporated using a two-scale approach, in which assumptions of particular turbulence symmetries provide simplifications. The derived model is tractable and provides a basis for understanding turbulence in the outer heliosphere, as well as in other astrophysical applications.

We construct numerical examples of a ‘modon’ (counter-rotating vortices) in an Euler flow by exploiting the analogy between steady Euler flows and magnetostatic equilibria in a perfectly conducting fluid. A numerical modon solution can be found by determining its corresponding magnetostatic equilibrium, which we refer to as a ‘magnetic moclon’. Such an equilibrium is obtained numerically by a relaxation procedure that conserves the topology of the relaxing field. Our numerical results show how the shape of a magnetic modon depends on its ‘signature’ (magnetic flux profile), and that these magnetic modons are unexpectedly unstable to non-symmetric perturbations. Diffusion can change the topology of the field through a reconnection process and separate the two magnetic eddies. We further show that the analogous Euler flow (or modon) behaves similar to a perturbed Hill's vortex.