1,865 research outputs found
Redistribution of fast ions during sawtooth reconnection
In a tokamak-based fusion power plant, possible scenarios may include regulated sawtooth oscillations to remove thermalized helium from the core of the plasma. During a sawtooth crash, the helium ash and other impurities trapped in the core are driven by the instability to an outer region. However, in a fusion plasma, high energy ions will represent a significant population. We thus study the behaviour of these energetic particles during a sawtooth. This paper presents the modelling of the redistribution of fast ions during a sawtooth reconnection event in a tokamak plasma. Along the lines of the model for the evolution of the flux surfaces during a sawtooth collapse described in Ya.I. Kolesnichenko and Yu.V. Yakovenko 1996 Nucl. Fusion 36 159, we have built a time-dependent electromagnetic model of a sawtooth reconnection. The trajectories of the ions are described by a complete gyro-orbit integration. The fast particles were evolved from specific initial parameters (given energy and uniform spread in pitch) or distributed initially according to a slowing-down distribution created by fusion reactions. Our modelling is used to understand the main equilibrium parameters driving the motions during the collapse and to determine the evolution of the distribution function of energetic ions when different geometries of reconnection are considered.</p
Finite-difference schemes for anisotropic diffusion
In fusion plasmas diffusion tensors are extremely anisotropic due to the high temperature and large magnetic field strength. This causes diffusion, heat conduction, and viscous momentum loss, to effectively be aligned with the magnetic field lines. This alignment leads to different values for the respective diffusive coefficients in the magnetic field direction and in the perpendicular direction, to the extent that heat diffusion coefficients can be up to 10 to the 12 th times larger in the parallel direction than in the perpendicular direction. This anisotropy puts stringent requirements on the numerical methods used to approximate the MHD-equations since any misalignment of the grid may cause the perpendicular diffusion to be polluted by the numerical error in approximating the parallel diffusion. Currently the common approach is to apply magnetic field-aligned coordinates, an approach that automatically takes care of the directionality of the diffusive coefficients. This approach runs into problems at x-points and at points where there is magnetic re-connection, since this causes local non-alignment. It is therefore useful to consider numerical schemes that are tolerant to the misalignment of the grid with the magnetic field lines, both to improve existing methods and to help open the possibility of applying regular non-aligned grids. To investigate this, in this paper several discretisation schemes are developed and applied to the anisotropic heat diffusion equation on a non-aligned grid.</p
Beta-decay branching ratios of 62Ga
Beta-decay branching ratios of 62Ga have been measured at the IGISOL facility
of the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyvaskyla. 62Ga is one of
the heavier Tz = 0, 0+ -> 0+ beta-emitting nuclides used to determine the
vector coupling constant of the weak interaction and the Vud quark-mixing
matrix element. For part of the experimental studies presented here, the
JYFLTRAP facility has been employed to prepare isotopically pure beams of 62Ga.
The branching ratio obtained, BR= 99.893(24)%, for the super-allowed branch is
in agreement with previous measurements and allows to determine the ft value
and the universal Ft value for the super-allowed beta decay of 62Ga
On the discovery of doubly-magic Ni
The paper reports on the first observation of doubly-magic Nickel-48 in an
experimental at the SISSI/LISE3 facility of GANIL. Four Nickel-48 isotopes were
identified. In addition, roughly 100 Nickel-49, 50 Iron-45, and 290 Chromium-42
isotopes were observed. This opens the possibility to search for two-proton
emission from these nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Magnetic transport in a straight parabolic channel
We study a charged two-dimensional particle confined to a straight
parabolic-potential channel and exposed to a homogeneous magnetic field under
influence of a potential perturbation . If is bounded and periodic along
the channel, a perturbative argument yields the absolute continuity of the
bottom of the spectrum. We show it can have any finite number of open gaps
provided the confining potential is sufficiently strong. However, if
depends on the periodic variable only, we prove by Thomas argument that the
whole spectrum is absolutely continuous, irrespectively of the size of the
perturbation. On the other hand, if is small and satisfies a weak
localization condition in the the longitudinal direction, we prove by Mourre
method that a part of the absolutely continuous spectrum persists
Magnetic strip waveguides
We analyze the spectrum of the "local" Iwatsuka model, i.e. a two-dimensional
charged particle interacting with a magnetic field which is homogeneous outside
a finite strip and translationally invariant along it. We derive two new
sufficient conditions for absolute continuity of the spectrum. We also show
that in most cases the number of open spectral gaps of the model is finite. To
illustrate these results we investigate numerically the situation when the
field is zero in the strip being screened, e.g. by a superconducting mask.Comment: 22 pages, a LaTeX source file with three eps figure
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