Non-adiabatic passing electron response and outward impurity convection in gyrokinetic calculations of impurity transport in ASDEX upgrade plasmas

Gyrokinetic calculations with the GS2 code of impurity transport in ASDEX Upgrade H-mode plasmas are presented. A method to separate the diagonal and off-diagonal terms in the quasi-linear flux computed by the gyrokinetic code for a trace impurity is introduced and applied. It is shown that in the experimental conditions of strong central electron cyclotron heating, unstable modes rotating in the electron diamagnetic direction are excited in the central region of the plasma. These are generated by the non-adiabatic response of passing electrons and feature extremely elongated eigenfunctions along the field line. The related fluctuations in the electrostatic potential generate an outward convection of the impurities. These theoretical findings are in agreement with the outward convection of laser ablated Si measured in these experimental conditions. In contrast, in the outer region of the plasma, as well as everywhere in the case of discharges without central electron heating, ion temperature gradient modes produce an impurity pinch directed inwards, which is also in agreement with the experimental observations.