Abstract
The interaction of long-wavelength anisotropic drift waves with the plasma turbulence of electron density advection is shown to produce the inverse energy transfer that condenses onto zonal modes, despite the expectation of forward transfer on the basis of nonconservation of enstrophy. Wave triads with an unstable wave and two waves of a separate, damped spectrum carry the transfer, provided they satisfy a near-resonance condition dependent on turbulence level and wave number.
- Received 12 January 2004
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.235004
©2004 American Physical Society