The Radial Propagation of Heat in Strongly Driven Non-Equilibrium Fusion Plasmas

Autor: Boudewijn van Milligen, Benjamin Carreras, Luis García, Javier Nicolau
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Entropy, Vol 21, Iss 2, p 148 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1099-4300
DOI: 10.3390/e21020148
Popis: Heat transport is studied in strongly heated fusion plasmas, far from thermodynamic equilibrium. The radial propagation of perturbations is studied using a technique based on the transfer entropy. Three different magnetic confinement devices are studied, and similar results are obtained. “Minor transport barriers„ are detected that tend to form near rational magnetic surfaces, thought to be associated with zonal flows. Occasionally, heat transport “jumps„ over these barriers, and this “jumping„ behavior seems to increase in intensity when the heating power is raised, suggesting an explanation for the ubiquitous phenomenon of “power degradation„ observed in magnetically confined plasmas. Reinterpreting the analysis results in terms of a continuous time random walk, “fast„ and “slow„ transport channels can be discerned. The cited results can partially be understood in the framework of a resistive Magneto-HydroDynamic model. The picture that emerges shows that plasma self-organization and competing transport mechanisms are essential ingredients for a fuller understanding of heat transport in fusion plasmas.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals