The stability of charged-particle motion in sheared magnetic reversals

We consider the motion of charged particles in a static magnetic reversal with a shear component, which has application for the stability of current sheets, such as in the Earth's geotail and in solar flares. We examine how the topology of the phase space changes as a function of the shear component by. At zero by, the phase space may be characterized by regions of stochastic and regular orbits (KAM surfaces). Numerically, we find that as we vary by, the position of the periodic orbit at the centre of the KAM surfaces changes. We use multiple-timescale perturbation theory to predict this variation analytically. We also find that for some values of by, all the KAM surfaces are destroyed owing to a resonance effect between two timescales, making the phase space globally chaotic. By investigating the stability of the solutions in the vicinity of the fixed point, we are able to predict for what values of by this happens and when the KAM surfaces reappear

Planet Packing Revisited

Ross Eckler discusses a problem in his article Planet Packing in the May 2001 Word Ways: given a list of words, such as the names of the planets, how efficiently can they be packed into a single string of characters so that each word on the list can be read off left to right (but not necessarily contiguously)? He hypothesizes there is no guarantee that any algorithm will end up with a minimum string. Since the design and analysis of algorithms has been my area of research for some 25 years, this caught my attention. Informally, an algorithm is a terminating procedure that could be coded as a computer program. (However, the procedure in the Planet Packing article does not contain enough tie-breaking rules to qualify as an algorithm)

RF heating for fusion product studies

Third harmonic cyclotron heating is an effective tool for accelerating deuterium (D) beams to the MeV energy range, suitable for studying ITER relevant fast particle physics in plasmas without significant tritium content. Such experiments were recently conducted in JET with an ITER like wall in D plasmas with 3He concentrations up to 30% in order to boost the fusion reactivity by D-3He reactions. The harmonic cyclotron heating produces high-energy tails in the MeV range of D ions by on-axis heating and of 3He ions by tangential off-axis heating. The discharges are characterized by long sawtooth free periods and a rich spectrum of MHD modes excited by the fast D and 3He ions. The partitions of the power, which depend on the distribution function of D, vary strongly over several slowing down times. Self-consistent modelling of the distribution function with the SELFO-light code are presented and compared with experimental data from fast particle diagnostics.This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 633053. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version