Nondiffusive suprathermal ion transport in simple magnetized toroidal plasmas

We investigate suprathermal ion dynamics in simple magnetized toroidal plasmas in the pres- ence of electrostatic turbulence driven by the ideal interchange instability. Turbulent fields from fluid simulations are used in the non-relativistic equation of ion motion to compute suprathermal tracer ion trajectories. Suprathermal ion dispersion starts with a brief ballistic phase, during which particles do not interact with the plasma, followed by a turbulence interaction phase. In this one simple system, we observe the entire spectrum of suprathermal ion dynamics, from subdiffusion to superdiffusion, depending on beam energy and turbulence amplitude. We estimate the duration of the ballistic phase and identify basic mechanisms during the interaction phase that determine the character of suprathermal ion dispersion upon the beam energy and turbulence fluctuation amplitude.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted in PR

Statistical analysis and modeling of intermittent transport events in the tokamak SOL

The turbulence observed in the scrape-off-layer of a tokamak is often characterized by intermittent events of bursty nature, a feature which raises concerns about the prediction of heat loads on the physical boundaries of the device. It appears thus necessary to delve into the statistical properties of turbulent physical fields such as density, electrostatic potential and temperature, focusing on the mathematical expression of tails of the probability distribution functions. The method followed here is to generate statistical information from time-traces of the plasma density stemming from Braginskii-type fluid simulations, and check this against a first-principles theoretical model. The analysis of the numerical simulations indicates that the probability distribution function of the intermittent process contains strong exponential tails, as predicted by the analytical theory.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Current driven rotating kink mode in a plasma column with a non-line-tied free end

First experimental measurements are presented for the kink instability in a linear plasma column which is insulated from an axial boundary by finite sheath resistivity. Instability threshold below the classical Kruskal-Shafranov threshold, axially asymmetric mode structure and rotation are observed. These are accurately reproduced by a recent kink theory, which includes axial plasma flow and one end of the plasma column that is free to move due to a non-line-tied boundary condition.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Transport equation describing fractional Lévy motion of suprathermal ions in TORPEX

Suprathermal ions, created by fusion reactions or by additional heating, will play an important role in burning plasmas such as the ones in ITER or DEMO. Basic plasma experiments, with easy access for diagnostics and well-controlled plasma scenarios, are particularly suitable to investigate the transport of suprathermal ions in plasma waves and turbulence. Experimental measurements and numerical simulations have revealed that the transport of fast ions in the presence of electrostatic turbulence in the basic plasma toroidal experiment TORPEX is generally non-classical. Namely, the mean-squared radial displacement of the ions does not scale linearly with time, but 〈r2(t)〉∼tγ , with γ �= 1 generally, γ>1 corresponding to superdiffusion and γ<1 to subdiffusion. A generalization of the classical model of diffusion, the so-called fractional L ́ evy motion, which encompasses power-law (L ́ evy) statistics for the displacements and correlated temporal increments, leads to non-classical dynamics such as that observed in the experiments. On a macroscopic scale, this results in fractional differential operators, which are used to model non-Gaussian, non-local anomalous transport in a growing number of applied fields, including plasma physics. In this paper, we show that asymmetric fractional L ́ evy motion can be described by a diffusion equation using spacefractional differential operator with skewness. Numerical simulations of tracers in TORPEX turbulence are performed. The time evolution of the radial particle position distribution is shown to be described by solutions of the fractional diffusion equation corresponding to asymmetric fractional L ́ evy motion in sub- and superdiffusive cases

Properties of convective cells generated in magnetized toroidal plasmas

Convective cells for turbulence control, generated by means of biased electrodes, are investigated in the simple magnetized toroidal plasmas of TORPEX. A two-dimensional array of 24 electrodes is installed on a metal limiter to test different biasing schemes. This allows influencing significantly both radial and vertical blob velocities. It is shown that these changes agree quantitatively with the flows deduced from the time averaged potential perturbations induced by the biasing. Detailed measurements along and across the magnetic field provide a rather clear picture of the effect of biasing on time averaged profiles. The biased electrodes produce perturbations of the plasma potential and density profiles that are fairly uniform along the magnetic field. Background flows influence the location where potential variations are induced. The magnitude of the achievable potential variations in the plasma is strongly limited by cross-field currents and saturates at large bias voltages once the electrodes draw electron saturation current. A quantitative discussion on the origin of cross-field currents is presented, considering contributions related with diamagnetic drifts, ion inertia, collisions with neutrals, and viscosity. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4740056

Brain CHID1 Expression Correlates with NRGN and CALB1 in Healthy Subjects and AD Patients

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, devastating, and irreversible brain disorder that, day by day, destroys memory skills and social behavior. Despite this, the number of known genes suitable for discriminating between AD patients is insufficient. Among the genes potentially involved in the development of AD, there are the chitinase-like proteins (CLPs) CHI3L1, CHI3L2, and CHID1. The genes of the first two have been extensively investigated while, on the contrary, little information is available on CHID1. In this manuscript, we conducted transcriptome meta-analysis on an extensive sample of brains of healthy control subjects (n = 1849) (NDHC) and brains of AD patients (n = 1170) in order to demonstrate CHID1 involvement. Our analysis revealed an inverse correlation between the brain CHID1 expression levels and the age of NDHC subjects. Significant differences were highlighted comparing CHID1 expression of NDHC subjects and AD patients. Exclusive in AD patients, the CHID1 expression levels were correlated positively to calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (IBA1) levels. Furthermore, both in NDHC and in AD patient's brains, the CHID1 expression levels were directly correlated with calbindin 1 (CALB1) and neurogranin (NRGN). According to brain regions, correlation differences were shown between the expression levels of CHID1 in prefrontal, frontal, occipital, cerebellum, temporal, and limbic system. Sex-related differences were only highlighted in NDHC. CHID1 represents a new chitinase potentially involved in the principal processes underlying Alzheimer's disease

Nondiffusive transport regimes for suprathermal ions in turbulent plasmas

The understanding of the transport of suprathermal ions in the presence of turbulence is important for fusion plasmas in the burning regime that will characterize reactors, and for space plasmas to understand the physics of particle acceleration. Here, three-dimensional measurements of a suprathermal ion beam in the toroidal plasma device TORPEX are presented. These measurements demonstrate, in a turbulent plasma, the existence of subdiffusive and superdiffusive transport of suprathermal ions, depending on their energy. This result stems from the unprecedented combination of uniquely resolved measurements and first-principles numerical simulations that reveal the mechanisms responsible for the nondiffusive transport. The transport regime is determined by the interaction of the suprathermal ion orbits with the turbulent plasma dynamics, and is strongly affected by the ratio of the suprathermal ion energy to the background plasma temperature

Blob-induced toroidal momentum transport in simple magnetized plasmas

The link between toroidal flows and density blobs is experimentally demonstrated in TORPEX simple magnetized plasmas: momentum is transferred from an ideal-interchange mode to density blobs. The phase shift between the toroidal flow and the density perturbations observed in the interchange mode where the blob is born is conserved along the blob radial trajectory. This leads to dipolar structures of the blob-induced flow or to monopolar perturbations, so large that the toroidal flow gets transiently reversed. The turbulent toroidal momentum flux is dominated either by the nonlinear flux or by the convective part but not by the Reynolds stress componen

Suprathermal ion transport in simple magnetized torus configurations

Inspired by suprathermal ion experiments in the basic plasma experiment TORPEX, the transport of suprathermal ions in ideal interchange mode turbulence is theoretically examined in the simple magnetized torus configuration. We follow ion tracer trajectories as specified by ideal interchange mode turbulence imported from a numerical simulation of drift-reduced Braginskii equations. Using the variance of displacements, sigma(2)(t) similar to t(gamma), we find that c depends strongly on suprathermal ion injection energy and the relative magnitude of turbulent fluctuations. The value of gamma also changes significantly as a function of time after injection, through three distinguishable phases: ballistic, interaction, and asymmetric. During the interaction phase, we find the remarkable presence of three regimes of dispersion: superdiffusive, diffusive, and subdiffusive, depending on the energy of the suprathermal ions and the amplitude of the turbulent fluctuations. We contrast these results with those from a "slab" magnetic geometry in which subdiffusion does not occur during the interaction phase. Initial results from TORPEX are consistent with data from a new synthetic diagnostic used to interpret our simulation results. The simplicity of the simple magnetized torus makes the present work of interest to analyses of more complicated contexts ranging from fusion devices to astrophysics and space plasma physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4725420