Aspects of the non-zonal transition

The non-zonal transition, a process which can bring about very large heat fluxes in gyrokinetic simulations, occurs once a certain threshold plasma β is reached. This threshold is parameterized via a simulation database, yielding an expression estimating at what β a given system may approach the transition. Furthermore, the diffusive outward transport of a heat blob in a temperature profile marginally stable with respect to the non-zonal transition is discussed: the resulting transport timescale combines the underlying turbulent transport timescale and the linear instability growth time, thus demonstrating that the non-zonal transition provides a mechanism for very fast heat dissipation