PPPL-3806 is available in <a href="PPPL-3806.pdf">pdf</a> format (776 KB).

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<b>Alfv&#233;n Waves in Gyrokinetic Plasmas</b>
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<b>Authors:</b> W.W. Lee and H. Qin
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<b>Date of PPPL Report:</b> April 2003
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<b>Published in:</b> Phys. Plasmas <b>10</b> (Aug 2003) 3196-3203</p>


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A brief comparison of the properties of Alfv&#233;n waves that are based on the gyrokinetic description with those derived from the MHD equations is presented. The critical differences between these two approaches are the treatment of the ion polarization effects. As such, the compressional Alfv&#233;n waves in a gyrokinetic plasma can be eliminated through frequency ordering, whereas geometric simplifications are needed to decouple the shear Alfv&#233;n waves from the compressional Alfv&#233;n waves within the context of MHD. Theoretical and numerical procedures of using gyrokinetic particle simulation for studying microturbulence and kinetic-MHD physics including finite Larmor radius effects are also presented.




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