Self-organization of electrostatic turbulence in a cylindrical plasma

On the basis of theory and computer simulations we show that electrostatic turbulence in a cylindrical plasma with magnetic shear and curvature self-organizes to form a macroscopic potential {φ} which depends only on the radial coordinate r and is given by {φ}(r){}J₀(pr)+C₁{r}²$+${C}₂$ where ${C}₁$ and ${C}₂are functions of a constant p. A unique feature of the potential is the existence of a coaxial φ({r}₀$)=0 surface at ${r}₀${}0.7a, where a is the radius of the cylinder. This surface is found to be fairly rigid and is considered to inhibit radial particle transport.