Variational calculation of neoclassical ion heat flux and poloidal flow in the banana regime for axisymmetric magnetic geometry

We present a numerical solution of the drift-kinetic equation retaining the linearized Fokker–Planck collision operator which is valid for general axisymmetric magnetic geometry in the low collisionality limit. We use the well-known variational principle based on entropy production and expand in basis functions. Uniquely, we expand in pitch-angle basis functions which are eigenfunctions of the transit-averaged test particle collision operator. These eigenfunctions, which depend on the geometry, are extremely well suited to this problem, with only one or two basis functions required to obtain an accurate solution. As a simple example of the technique, the neoclassical ion heat flux and poloidal flow are calculated for circular flux surfaces and compared with analytic approximations for arbitrary aspect ratio. (paper)