Test Particle Simulations for Non-Maxwellian Plasma Transport: Discretized Collisional Operator

Abstract

The plasma observed in modern fusion devices is very often characterized by strongly non Maxwellian distribution function. That is the direct result of inevitable application of plasma heating techniques, such as neutral beam injection (NBI) and ion/electron cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF/ECRF) heating, which induce the non Maxwellian fast ions. Another cause of transfer from Maxwellian to non Maxwellian is the reconnection of magnetic field lines followed by formation of magnetic resonant structures like magnetic islands and stochastic layers. One of the basic approaches used to simulate fusion plasma is test particle approach based on a solution of the equations of test particle motion. To make this approach more comprehensive one should take care of plasma particle interactions, i.e. Coulomb collisions in non Maxwellian environment. In present paper the expressions for the discretized collision operator of a general Monte Carlo equivalent form in terms of expectation values and standard deviation for an arbitrary non Maxwellian bulk distribution function are derived. The modification of transport coefficients of impurity ions caused by the transition from the background Maxwellian to non Maxwellian plasma is studied by means of this discretized collision operator. On this purpose, the set of monoenergetic neon test impurities is followed in a toroidal plasma consisting of bulk deuterons and electrons. The non Maxwellian distribution of the bulk is obtained by adding a fraction of energetic particles of the same species. It is demonstrated that a change of collision frequencies of impurities takes place in presence of this energetic fraction leading to a change of impurity neoclassical transport regime.