Landau damping of geodesic acoustic mode in toroidally rotating tokamaks
Geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) is analyzed by using modified gyro-kinetic (MGK) equation applicable to low-frequency microinstabilities in a rotating axisymmetric plasma. Dispersion relation of GAM in the presence of arbitrary toroidal Mach number is analytically derived. The effects of toroidal rotation on the GAM frequency and damping rate do not depend on the orientation of equilibrium flow. It is shown that the toroidal Mach number M increases the GAM frequency and dramatically decreases the Landau damping rate.