A Adiabatic electron response

Assume that the total electron density satisfies the Boltzmann distribution on each magnetic surface, i.e.,

          (  q δΦ)      (    q δΦ)
ne = Ne exp −-e--  ≈ Ne  1 − -e--  ,
              Te0             Te0
(297)

where Ne is a radial function. Note that this does not imply that the equilibrium density is Ne (it just implies that the total density is Ne at the location where δΦ = 0, which can still be different from the equilibrium density).

Further assume that the magnetic surface average of electron density perturbation (δne = ne −ne0) is zero, i.e.,

⟨ne − ne0⟩f = 0,
(298)

where ne0 is the equilibrium electron density, ⟨…⟩f is the magntic surface averaging operator. Using Eq. (297) in the above condition, we get

                       (           )
Ne = ne0----1-----≈ ne0 1 + qe⟨δΦ-⟩f- .
        1 − qe⟨TδeΦ0⟩f-            Te0
(299)

Then expression (297) is written as

        (          ) (        )      (                 )
n  = n   1+  qe⟨δΦ⟩f-  1 − qeδΦ-  ≈ n   1 + qe⟨δΦ⟩f-− qeδΦ-  .
 e    e0       Te0         Te0      e0       Te0     Te0
(300)

Then the perturbation δne = ne − ne0 is written as

δne = − n0eqe(δΦ-−-⟨δΦ⟩f).
               Te0
(301)

This model for electron response is often called adiabatic electron.

A.1 Poisson’s equation with adiabatic electron response

Pluging expression (301) into the Poisson equation (231), we get

     2      ∫  qi-          ∂Fi0        q2e(δΦ-−-⟨δΦ-⟩f)-     ′
− 𝜀0∇ ⊥δΦ− qi  mi(δΦ − ⟨δΦ⟩α) ∂𝜀 dv + n0e   Te0      = qiδni.
(302)

When solving the Poisson equation, the equation is Fourier expanded into toroidal harmonics. Each harmonic is independent of each other, so that they can be solved independently. For n≠0 harmonics, the ⟨δΦ⟩f terms is zero and thus the the electron term is easy to handle because it’s a local response. There is some difficulty in solving the n = 0 harmonic because the ⟨δΦ⟩f term is nonzero.

I use the following method to obtain ⟨δΦ⟩f.

First slove the n = 0 harmonic of the following equation:

             ∫
− 𝜀0∇2⊥δΦ′ − qi-qi(δΦ′ − ⟨δΦ ′⟩α)∂Fi0dv = qiδn′i,
               mi              ∂𝜀
(303)

(i.e., Eq. (302) with the electron contribution dropped). Let δΦ′ denote the solution to this equation. Then it can be proved that ⟨δΦ′⟩f is equal to ⟨δΦ⟩f. [Proof:

Taking the flux surface average of Eq. (302), we obtain

               ⟨ ∫  q            ∂F    ⟩
− 𝜀0⟨∇2⊥δΦ⟩f − qi   -i-(δΦ − ⟨δΦ⟩α)--i0-dv   = qi⟨δn′i⟩f,
                   mi            ∂ 𝜀    f
(304)

where the adiabatic response disappears. to be continued.

]

Then solving Eq. (302) becomes easier because ⟨δΦ⟩f term is known and can be moved to the right-hand side as a source term.