Inertial blob-hole symmetry breaking in magnetised plasma filaments

Abstract

Symmetry breaking between the propagation velocities of magnetised plasma filaments with large positive (blob) and negative (hole) amplitudes, as implied by a dimensional analysis scaling, is studied with global ('full-n') non-Boussinesq gyrofluid computations, which include finite inertia effects through nonlinear polarisation. Interchange blobs on a flat density background have higher inertia and propagate more slowly than holes. In the presence of a large enough density gradient, the effect is reversed: blobs accelerate down the gradient and holes are slowed in their propagation up the gradient. Drift wave blobs spread their initial vorticity rapidly into a fully developed turbulent state, whereas primary holes can remain coherent for many eddy turnover times. The results bear implications for plasma edge zonal flow evolution and tokamak scrape-off-layer transport.