Completion of the 8 MW Multi-Frequency ECRH System at ASDEX Upgrade

Over the last 15 years, the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) system at the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak has been upgraded from a 2 MW, 2 s, 140 GHz system to an 8 MW, 10 s, dual frequency system (105/140 GHz). Eight gyrotrons were in routine operation during the current experimental campaign. All gyrotrons are step-tunable operating at 105 and 140 GHz with a maximum output power of about 1 MW and 10 s pulse length. The system includes 8 transmission lines, mainly consisting of oversized corrugated waveguides (I.D. = 87 mm) with overall lengths between 50 and 70 meters including quasi-optical sections at both ends. Further improvements of the transmission lines with respect to power handling and reliability are underway

Exploring fusion-reactor physics with high-power electron cyclotron resonance heating on ASDEX Upgrade

The electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) system of the ASDEX Upgrade tokomak has been upgraded over the last 15 years from a 2MW, 2 s, 140 GHz system to an 8MW, 10 s, dual frequency system (105/140 GHz). The power exceeds the L/H power threshold by at least a factor of two, even for high densities, and roughly equals the installed ion cyclotron range of frequencies power. The power of both wave heating systems together (>10MW in the plasma) is about half of the available neutral beam injection (NBI) power, allowing significant variations of torque input, of the shape of the heating profile and of Qe/Qi, even at high heating power. For applications at a low magnetic field an X3-heating scheme is routinely in use. Such a scenario is now also forseen for ITER to study the first H-modes at one third of the full field. This versatile system allows one to address important issues fundamental to a fusion reactor: H-mode operation with dominant electron heating, accessing low collisionalities in full metal devices (also related to suppression of edge localized modes with resonant magnetic perturbations), influence of Te/Ti and rotational shear on transport, and dependence of impurity accumulation on heating profiles. Experiments on all these subjects have been carried out over the last few years and will be presented in this contribution. The adjustable localized current drive capability of ECRH allows dedicated variations of the shape of the q-profile and the study of their influence on non-inductive tokamak operation (so far at q$_{95}$>5.3). The ultimate goal of these experiments is to use the experimental findings to refine theoretical models such that they allow a reliable design of operational schemes for reactor size devices. In this respect, recent studies comparing a quasi-linear approach (TGLF) with fully non-linear modeling (GENE) of non-inductive high-beta plasmas will be reported

Fig. 3 in A new species of Anthidium bee with an armed sternum from Turkmenistan (Apoidea, Anthidiini)

Fig. 3. Anthidium turkmenistanicum nov.sp. Male genitalia in dorsal and lateral view (A, B) and S8 (C).Published as part of Kasparek, Max, 2022, A new species of Anthidium bee with an armed sternum from Turkmenistan (Apoidea, Anthidiini), pp. 195-201 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 54 (1) on page 199, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.750735

A new species in the Trachusa ovata species group (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from Peninsular Malaysia with an overview of the old-world species within the genus Trachusa

Kasparek, Max (2019): A new species in the Trachusa ovata species group (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from Peninsular Malaysia with an overview of the old-world species within the genus Trachusa. Journal of Natural History 53 (17): 1079-1094, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2019.163295

A new species of Trachusa Panzer, 1804 (Megachilidae: Anthidiini) from southern Africa, with notes on the subgeneric classification and a key to the Afrotropical species

Kasparek, Max (2018): A new species of Trachusa Panzer, 1804 (Megachilidae: Anthidiini) from southern Africa, with notes on the subgeneric classification and a key to the Afrotropical species. Zootaxa 4399 (3): 329-340, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4399.3.

The purple gallinule, porphyrio porphyrio, in the eastern mediterranean

The decrease of the East Mediterranean population of the Purple Gallinule, Porphyrio porphyrio, since the last century, perhaps even since classical antiquity, is described. The only locality where the ssp. seistanicus is known to breed in the Mediterranean is the Göksu delta in Turkey (< 30 pairs) for which urgent conservation measures are recommended