A unified theory of zonal flow shears and density corrugations in drift wave turbulence is presented. Polarization and density advection beat excitation are studied in combination with modulational response. Noise is driven by two-time flux correlation. While the effective zonal flow eddy viscosity can go negative, the zonal diffusivity is positive definite. There is no inverse cascade of density corrugation. The connection between avalanches and corrugations is discussed. The zonal cross-correlation is identified and calculated. Conditions for alignment of zonal shears and corrugation gradients are determined, and the implications for staircase structure are discussed. We show that the synergy of beat noise and modulational effects is stronger than either alone. Strong zonal flows can be excited well below the modulational instability threshold. In the context of L–H transition, zonal noise quenches turbulence overshoot by eliminating the threshold for zonal flow excitation. The power threshold for L–H transition is lowered.

提出了漂移波湍流中区域流动剪切和密度波纹的统一理论。结合调制响应研究了偏振和密度对流拍频激发。噪声是由两次通量相关性驱动的。尽管有效的区域流动涡流粘度可以为负，但区域扩散率却是正的。没有密度波纹的逆级联。讨论了雪崩和波纹之间的联系。确定并计算区域互相关。确定了区域剪切和波纹梯度对齐的条件，并讨论了阶梯结构的含义。我们表明，拍子噪声和调制效果的协同作用比任何一个都强。强烈的纬向流可以远低于调制不稳定性阈值被激发。在L–H过渡的情况下，纬向噪声通过消除纬向流激励的阈值来消除湍流过冲。L–H转换的功率阈值降低。