Transport Barrier generation at the interface of regions with different zonal flows dynamics

Abstract: A novel and generic understanding of spontaneous generation of transport barriers and zonation regimes in turbulent self-organization is presented. It associates the barrier onset to the development of a spectral gap between large scale flows and turbulence modes leading to a zonation regime. A robust barrier builds-up at the interface of such a region and a neighboring one with reduced zonal flow generation. This more complex and generic transition paradigm could fit the numerous and sometimes conflicting observations as in fusion plasma experiments. Barrier relaxation by bursts of turbulence regenerate the zonal flows that are eroded by viscous (collisional-like) damping. The duration of the quiescent phase between the quasi-periodic relaxation events is governed by this damping process, hence the barrier collision frequency for fusion plasmas.