579 research outputs found
Penetration And Scattering Of Lower Hybrid Waves By Density Fluctuations
Lower Hybrid [LH] ray propagation in toroidal plasma is controlled by a combination of the azimuthal spectrum launched from the antenna, the poloidal variation of the magnetic field, and the scattering of the waves by the density fluctuations. The width of the poloidal and radial RF wave spectrum increases rapidly as the rays penetrate into higher density and scatter from the turbulence. The electron temperature gradient [ETG] spectrum is particularly effective in scattering the LH waves due to its comparable wavelengths and parallel phase velocities. ETG turbulence is also driven by the radial gradient of the electron current density giving rise to an anomalous viscosity spreading the LH-driven plasma currents. The scattered LH spectrum is derived from a Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution of the ray trajectories with a diffusivity proportional to the fluctuations. The LH ray diffusivity is large giving transport in the poloidal and radial wavenumber spectrum in one -or a few passes - of the rays through the core plasma.Institute for Fusion Studie
Kinetic modelling of runaway electron avalanches in tokamak plasmas
Runaway electrons (REs) can be generated in tokamak plasmas if the
accelerating force from the toroidal electric field exceeds the collisional
drag force due to Coulomb collisions with the background plasma. In ITER,
disruptions are expected to generate REs mainly through knock-on collisions,
where enough momentum can be transferred from existing runaways to slow
electrons to transport the latter beyond a critical momentum, setting off an
avalanche of REs. Since knock-on runaways are usually scattered off with a
significant perpendicular component of the momentum with respect to the local
magnetic field direction, these particles are highly magnetized. Consequently,
the momentum dynamics require a full 3-D kinetic description, since these
electrons are highly sensitive to the magnetic non-uniformity of a toroidal
configuration. A bounce-averaged knock-on source term is derived. The
generation of REs from the combined effect of Dreicer mechanism and knock-on
collision process is studied with the code LUKE, a solver of the 3-D linearized
bounce-averaged relativistic electron Fokker-Planck equation, through the
calculation of the response of the electron distribution function to a constant
parallel electric field. This work shows that the avalanche effect can be
important even in non-disruptive scenarios. RE formation through knock-on
collisions is found to be strongly reduced when taking place off the magnetic
axis, since trapped electrons cannot contribute to the RE population. The
relative importance of the avalanche mechanism is investigated as a function of
the key parameters for RE formation; the plasma temperature and the electric
field strength. In agreement with theoretical predictions, the simulations show
that in low temperature and E-field knock-on collisions are the dominant source
of REs and can play a significant role for RE generation, including in
non-disruptive scenarios.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
Perturbation analysis of trapped-particle dynamics in axisymmetric dipole geometry
The perturbation analysis of the bounce action-angle coordinates
for charged particles trapped in an axisymmetric dipole magnetic field is
presented. First, the lowest-order bounce action-angle coordinates are derived
for deeply-trapped particles in the harmonic-oscillator approximation. Next,
the Lie-transform perturbation method is used to derive higher-order anharmonic
action-angle corrections. Explicit expressions (with anharmonic corrections)
for the canonical parallel coordinates and are
presented, which satisfy the canonical identity . Lastly, analytical expressions for the bounce and drift frequencies
(which include anharmonic corrections) yield excellent agreement with exact
numerical results.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure
Orbit-averaged Guiding-center Fokker-Planck Operator
A general orbit-averaged guiding-center Fokker-Planck operator suitable for
the numerical analysis of transport processes in axisymmetric magnetized
plasmas is presented. The orbit-averaged guiding-center operator describes
transport processes in a three-dimensional guiding-center invariant space: the
orbit-averaged magnetic-flux invariant \ov{\psi}, the minimum-B pitch-angle
coordinate , and the momentum magnitude .Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication in Physics of Plasma
Exact spin dynamics of the 1/r^2 supersymmetric t-J model in a magnetic field
The dynamical spin structure factor S^{zz}(Q,omega) in the small momentum
region is derived analytically for the one-dimensional supersymmetric t-J model
with 1/r^2 interaction. Strong spin-charge separation is found in the spin
dynamics. The structure factor S^{zz}(Q,omega) with a given spin polarization
does not depend on the electron density in the small momentum region. In the
thermodynamic limit, only two spinons and one antispinon (magnon) contribute to
S^{zz}(Q,omega). These results are derived via solution of the SU(2,1)
Sutherland model in the strong coupling limit.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in J.Phys.
Coupled Ray-Tracing and Fokker-Planck EBW Modeling for Spherical Tokamaks
The AMR (Antenna—Mode-conversion—Ray-tracing) code [1, 2] has been recently coupled with the LUKE [3] Fokker-Planck code. This modeling suite is capable of complex simulations of electron Bernstein wave (EBW) emission, heating and current drive. We employ these codes to study EBW heating and current drive performance under spherical tokamak (ST) configurations—typical NSTX discharges are employed. EBW parameters, such as frequency, antenna position and direction, are varied and optimized for particular configurations and objectives. In this way, we show the versatility of EBWs
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