Discrete particle noise in particle-in-cell simulations of plasma microturbulence

Recent gyrokinetic simulations of electron temperature gradient (ETG) turbulence with flux-tube continuum codes vs. the global particle-in-cell (PIC) code GTC yielded different results despite similar plasma parameters. Differences between the simulations results were attributed to insufficient phase-space resolution and novel physics associated with toroidicity and/or global simulations. We have reproduced the results of the global PIC code using the flux-tube PIC code PG3EQ, thereby eliminating global effects as the cause of the discrepancy. We show that the late-time decay of ETG turbulence and the steady-state heat transport observed in these PIC simulations results from discrete particle noise. Discrete particle noise is a numerical artifact, so both these PG3EQ simulations and the previous GTC simulations have nothing to say about steady-state ETG turbulence and the associated anomalous heat transport. In the course of this work we develop three diagnostics which can help to determine if a particular PIC simulation has become dominated by discrete particle noise.