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arXiv · 1909.10479

Solitary zonal structures in subcritical drift waves: a minimum model

Yao Zhou·Hongxuan Zhu·I. Y. Dodin
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Abstract

Solitary zonal structures have recently been identified in gyrokinetic simulations of subcritical drift-wave (DW) turbulence with background shear flows. However, the nature of these structures has not been fully understood yet. Here, we show that similar structures can be obtained within a reduced model, which complements the modified Hasegawa-Mima equation with a generic primary instability and a background shear flow. We also find that these structures can be qualitatively reproduced in the modified Hasegawa-Wakatani equation, which subsumes the reduced model as a limit. In particular, we illustrate that in both cases, the solitary zonal structures approximately satisfy the same ''equation of state'', which is a local relation connecting the DW envelope with the zonal-flow velocity. Due to this generality, our reduced model can be considered as a minimum model for solitary zonal structures in subcritical DWs.

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Yao Zhou, Hongxuan Zhu, I. Y. Dodin. 2019-09-23. Solitary zonal structures in subcritical drift waves: a minimum model. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587%2Fab78f3

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