Flux coordinates in the context of magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) is a set of coordinate functions adapted to the shape of the flux surfaces of the confining magnetic trap. They consist of one flux label, often termed
and two angle-like variables
whose constant contours on the flux
surfaces close either poloidaly (
) or toroidallly (
).
In this coordinates, equilibrium vector fields like the magnetic field
or current density
have simplified expressions. A particular kind of flux coordinates, generally called magnetic coordinates, simplify the
-field expression further by making field lines look straight in the
plane of that family of coordinates. Some popular choices of magnetic coordinate systems are Boozer coordinates and Hamada coordinates.
Sample flux surface of the
TJ-II stellarator and a

-curve (yellow) and

-curve (red).
General curvilinear coordinates
Here we briefly review the basic definitions of a general curvilinear coordinate system for later convenience when discussing toroidal flux coordinates and magnetic coordinates.
Coordinates and basis vectors
Let
be a set of euclidean coordinates on
and let
define a change of coordinates, arbitrary for the time being.
We can calculate the contravariant basis vectors as

and the dual covariant basis defined as

and therefore relates to the contravariant vectors as

where
are cyclic permutations of
and we have used the notation
. The Jacobian
is defined below. Similarly

Any vector field
can be represented as

or

In particular any basis vector
. The metric tensor is defined as

The metric tensors can be used to raise or lower indices. Take

so that

Jacobian
The Jacobian of the coordinate transformation
is defined as

and that of the inverse transformation

It can be seen that [1]
Some surface elements
Consider a surface defined by a constant value of
. Then, the surface element is

As for a surface defined by a constant value of
:

or a constant
surface:

Gradient, Divergence and Curl in curvilinear coordinates
The gradient of a function f is naturally given in the contravariant basis vectors:

The divergence of a vector
is best expressed in terms of its contravariant components

while the curl is

given in terms of the covariant base vectors, where
is the [[::Wikipedia:Levi-Civita symbol| Levi-Civita]] symbol.
Flux coordinates
A flux coordinate set is one that includes a flux surface label as a coordinate. A flux surface label is a function that is constant and single valued on each flux surface. In our naming of the general curvilinear coordinates we have already adopted the usual flux coordinate convention for toroidal equilibrium with nested flux surfaces, where
is the flux surface label and
are
-periodic poloidal and toroidal-like angles.
Different flux surface labels can be chosen like toroidal
or poloidal
magnetic fluxes or the volume contained within the flux surface
. By single valued we mean to ensure that any flux label
is a monotonous function of any other flux label
, so that the function
is invertible at least in a volume containing the region of interest. We will denote a generic flux surface label by
.
To avoid ambiguity in the sign of line and surface integrals we impose
, the toroidal angle increases in the clockwise direction when seen from above and the poloidal angle increases such that
.
Flux Surface Average
The Flux Surface Average (FSA) of a function
is defined as the limit

where
is the volume confined between two flux surfaces. It is therefore a volume average over an infinitesimal spatial region rather than a surface average. To avoid confusion, we denote volume elements or domains with the calligraphic
. Capital
is reserved for the flux label (coordinate) defined as the volume within a flux surface.
Introducing the differential volume element

or, noting that
, we have
and
we get to a more practical form of the Flux Surface Average

Note that
, so the FSA is a surface integral weighted by
:

Applying Gauss' theorem to the definition of FSA we get to the identity

Useful properties of FSA
Some useful properties of the FSA are


The two identities above are the basic simplifying properties of the FSA: The first cancels the contribution of 'conservative forces' like the pressure gradient or electrostatic electric fields. The second reduces the number of spatial variables to only the radial one. Further, it is possible to show that, if
then
and not simply constant as the above suggests. This can be seen by simply using Gauss' theorem

The FSA relates to the conventional volume integral between two surfaces labelled by their volumes
and
as

whereas the conventional surface integral over a
is

Other useful properties are




In the above
. Some vector identities are useful to derive the above identities.
Magnetic field representation in flux coordinates
Contravariant Form
Any solenoidal vector field
can be written as
called its Clebsch representation. For a magnetic field with flux surfaces
we can choose, say,
to be the flux surface label

Field lines are then given as the intersection of the constant-
and constant-
surfaces. This form provides a general expression for
in terms of the covariant basis vectors of a flux coordinate system

in terms of the function
, sometimes referred to as the magnetic field's stream function.
It is worthwhile to note that the Clebsch form of
corresponds to a magnetic vector potential
(or
as they differ only by the Gauge transformation
).
The general form of the stream function is

where
is a differentiable function periodic in the two angles. This general form can be derived by using the fact that
is a physical function (hence singe-valued). The specific form for the coefficients in front of the secular terms (i.e. the non-periodic terms) can be obtained from the FSA properties .
Covariant Form
If we consider an equilibrium magnetic field such that
, where
is the current density , then both
and
and the magnetic field can be written as

where
is identified as the magnetic scalar potential. Its general form is

Sample integration circuits for the current definitions.
Sample surface for the definition of the current though a disc. Note that only the current of more external surfaces (those enclosing the one drawn here) contribute to the flux of charge through the surface.
Note that
is not the current but
times the current. The functional dependence on the angular variables is again motivated by the single-valuedness of the magnetic field. The particular form of the coefficients can be obtained noting that

and choosing an integration circuit contained within a flux surface
. Then we get

If we now choose a toroidal circuit
we get

here the superscript
is meant to indicate the flux is computed through a disc limited by the integration line, as opposed to the ribbon limited by the integration line on one side and the magnetic axis on the other that was used for the definition of poloidal magnetic flux
above these lines.
Similarly

Contravariant Form of the current density
Taking the curl of the covariant form of
the equilibrium current density
can be written as

By very similar arguments as those used for
(note that both
and
are solenoidal fields tangent to the flux surfaces) it can be shown that the general expression for
is

Note that the poloidal current is now defined through a ribbon and not a disc. The two currents are related as
implies

where the integral is performed along the magnetic axis and therefore does not depend on
. This can be used to show that a expanded version of
is given as

Magnetic coordinates
Magnetic coordinates are a particular type of flux coordinates in which the magnetic field lines are straight lines. In mathematical terms this implies that the periodic part of the magnetic field's stream function is zero in these coordinates so the magnetic field reads

Now a field line is given by
and
.
Note that, in general, the contravariant components of the magnetic field in a magnetic coordinate system

are not flux functions, but their quotient is

being the rotational transform. In a magnetic coordinate system the poloidal
and toroidal
components of the magnetic field are individually divergence-less.
From the above general form of
in magnetic coordinates it is easy to obtain the following identities valid for any magnetic coordinate system


Transforming between Magnetic coordinates systems
There are infinitely many systems of magnetic coordinates. Any transformation of the angles of the from

where
is periodic in the angles, preserves the straightness of the field lines (as can be easily checked by direct substitution). The spatial function
, is called the generating function. It can be obtained from a magnetic differential equation if we know the Jacobians of the two magnetic coordinate systems
and
. In fact taking
on any of the transformation of the angles and using the known expressions for the contravariant components of
in magnetic coordinates we get

The LHS of this equation has a particularly simple form when one uses a magnetic coordinate system. For instance, if we write
in terms of the original magnetic coordinate system we get

which can be turned into an algebraic equation on the Fourier components of

where

and
guarantees periodicity is preserved.
Particular choices of G can be made so as to simplify the description of other fields. The most commonly used magnetic coordinate systems are:
[1]
- Hamada coordinates. [2][3] In these coordinates, both the magnetic field lines and current lines corresponding to the MHD equilibrium are straight. Referring to the definitions above, both
and
are zero in Hamada coordinates.
- Boozer coordinates. [4][5] In these coordinates, the magnetic field lines corresponding to the MHD equilibrium are straight and so are the diamagnetic lines , i.e. the integral lines of
. Referring to the definitions above, both
and
are zero in Boozer coordinates.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 W.D. D'haeseleer, Flux coordinates and magnetic field structure: a guide to a fundamental tool of plasma theory, Springer series in computational physics, Springer-Verlag (1991) ISBN 3540524193
- ↑ S. Hamada, Nucl. Fusion 2 (1962) 23
- ↑ J.M. Greene and J.L Johnson, Stability Criterion for Arbitrary Hydromagnetic Equilibria, Phys. Fluids 5 (1962) 510
- ↑ A.H. Boozer, Plasma equilibrium with rational magnetic surfaces, Phys. Fluids 24 (1981) 1999
- ↑ A.H. Boozer, Establishment of magnetic coordinates for a given magnetic field, Phys. Fluids 25 (1982) 520