50,776 research outputs found
Start of SPIDER operation towards ITER neutral beams
Heating Neutral Beam (HNB) Injectors will constitute the main plasma heating and current drive tool both in ITER and JT60-SA, which are the next major experimental steps for demonstrating nuclear fusion as viable energy source. In ITER, in order to achieve the required thermonuclear fusion power gain Q=10 for short pulse operation and Q=5 for long pulse operation (up to 3600s), two HNB injectors will be needed [1], each delivering a total power of about 16.5 MW into the magnetically-confined plasma, by means of neutral hydrogen or deuterium particles having a specific energy of about 1 MeV. Since only negatively charged particles can be efficiently neutralized at such energy, the ITER HNB injectors [2] will be based on negative ions, generated by caesium-catalysed surface conversion of atoms in a radio-frequency driven plasma source. A negative deuterium ion current of more than 40 A will be extracted, accelerated and focused in a multi-aperture, multi-stage electrostatic accelerator, having 1280 apertures (~ 14 mm diam.) and 5 acceleration stages (~200 kV each) [3]. After passing through a narrow gas-cell neutralizer, the residual ions will be deflected and discarded, whereas the neutralized particles will continue their trajectory through a duct into the tokamak vessels to deliver the required heating power to the ITER plasma for a pulse duration of about 3600 s. Although the operating principles and the implementation of the most critical parts of the injector have been tested in different experiments, the ITER NBI requirements have never been simultaneously attained. In order to reduce the risks and to optimize the design and operating procedures of the HNB for ITER, a dedicated Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF) [4] has been promoted by the ITER Organization with the contribution of the European Union\u2019s Joint Undertaking for ITER and of the Italian Government, with the participation of the Japanese and Indian Domestic Agencies (JADA and INDA) and of several European laboratories, such as IPP-Garching, KIT-Karlsruhe, CCFE-Culham, CEA-Cadarache. The NBTF, nicknamed PRIMA, has been set up at Consorzio RFX in Padova, Italy [5]. The planned experiments will verify continuous HNB operation for one hour, under stringent requirements for beam divergence (< 7 mrad) and aiming (within 2 mrad). To study and optimise HNB performances, the NBTF includes two experiments: MITICA, full-scale NBI prototype with 1 MeV particle energy and SPIDER, with 100 keV particle energy and 40 A current, aiming at testing and optimizing the full-scale ion source. SPIDER will focus on source uniformity, negative ion current density and beam optics. In June 2018 the experimental operation of SPIDER has started
Methods for characterising microphysical processes in plasmas
Advanced spectral and statistical data analysis techniques have greatly
contributed to shaping our understanding of microphysical processes in plasmas.
We review some of the main techniques that allow for characterising fluctuation
phenomena in geospace and in laboratory plasma observations. Special emphasis
is given to the commonalities between different disciplines, which have
witnessed the development of similar tools, often with differing terminologies.
The review is phrased in terms of few important concepts: self-similarity,
deviation from self-similarity (i.e. intermittency and coherent structures),
wave-turbulence, and anomalous transport.Comment: Space Science Reviews (2013), in pres
An Overview of Multi-Processor Approximate Message Passing
Approximate message passing (AMP) is an algorithmic framework for solving
linear inverse problems from noisy measurements, with exciting applications
such as reconstructing images, audio, hyper spectral images, and various other
signals, including those acquired in compressive signal acquisiton systems. The
growing prevalence of big data systems has increased interest in large-scale
problems, which may involve huge measurement matrices that are unsuitable for
conventional computing systems. To address the challenge of large-scale
processing, multiprocessor (MP) versions of AMP have been developed. We provide
an overview of two such MP-AMP variants. In row-MP-AMP, each computing node
stores a subset of the rows of the matrix and processes corresponding
measurements. In column- MP-AMP, each node stores a subset of columns, and is
solely responsible for reconstructing a portion of the signal. We will discuss
pros and cons of both approaches, summarize recent research results for each,
and explain when each one may be a viable approach. Aspects that are
highlighted include some recent results on state evolution for both MP-AMP
algorithms, and the use of data compression to reduce communication in the MP
network
Modeling, Simulating, and Parameter Fitting of Biochemical Kinetic Experiments
In many chemical and biological applications, systems of differential
equations containing unknown parameters are used to explain empirical
observations and experimental data. The DEs are typically nonlinear and
difficult to analyze, requiring numerical methods to approximate the solutions.
Compounding this difficulty are the unknown parameters in the DE system, which
must be given specific numerical values in order for simulations to be run.
Estrogen receptor protein dimerization is used as an example to demonstrate
model construction, reduction, simulation, and parameter estimation.
Mathematical, computational, and statistical methods are applied to empirical
data to deduce kinetic parameter estimates and guide decisions regarding future
experiments and modeling. The process demonstrated serves as a pedagogical
example of quantitative methods being used to extract parameter values from
biochemical data models.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, to be published in SIAM Revie
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