QUASICRYSTALLIZATION OF VORTICES IN DRIFT-WAVE TURBULENCE

The formation and dynamics of coherent vortices in the Hasegawa-Mima two-dimensional model of drift-wave turbulence is studied numerically. The effect of ''vortex shielding'' due to the presence of a characteristic length scale (ion Larmor radius p(s)) leads to important differences between self-organization in drift-wave and Navier-Stokes fluid turbulence. While it may not be surprising that a finite deformation radius leads to the formation of coherent vortices, we show here that it also results in the appearance of long-range order in the system, i.e., the formation of a vortical ''quasicrystal.''