Staircase temperature profiles and plasma transport self-organisation in a minimum kinetic model of turbulence based on the trapped ion mode instability

A minimum model of plasma turbulence in a kinetic framework is presented. It is based on trapped ion turbulence, gyro and bounce averaged, and implemented in the versatile and efficient code TERESA. Zonal flow - streamer interplay are readily shown to be key players that govern the confinement properties of the model. The parameter space of the model is explored with brute force numerics. A generic result is either a streamer dominated pattern with large transport, or a staircase temperature profile with very marked corrugations and quenched transport. A case with off-axis heating is found to exhibit quasiperiodic relaxation events relevant to investigate dynamical turbulence self-organisation