Transport hysteresis and zonal flow stimulation in magnetized plasmas

A hysteresis in the relationship between zonal flows and electron heating is observed numerically by using gyrokinetic simulations in fusion plasmas. As the electron temperature increases, a first transition occurs, at a given electron/ion temperature ratio, above which zonal flows are much weaker than before the transition, leading to a poorly confined plasma. Beyond this transition, even if the electron temperature is lowered to a moderate value, the plasma fails to recover a dynamic state with strong zonal flows. Then, as the electron temperature decreases further, a new transition appears, at a temperature lower than the first transition, below which the zonal flows are stronger than they were initially. The confinement of the plasma and the heat flux are thus found to be sensitive to the history of the magnetized plasma. These transitions are associated with large exchanges of energy between the modes corresponding to instabilities (m > 0) and zonal flows (m = 0). We also observe that up to the first transition it is possible to use a control method to stimulate the appearance of zonal flows and therefore the confinement of the plasma. Beyond that transition, this control method is no longer effective.