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Title: Particle pinch and collisionality in gyrokinetic simulations of tokamak plasma turbulence

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3155498· OSTI ID:21277205
 [1]; ;  [2]; ; ;  [3];  [4]
  1. IPP-EURATOM Association, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
  2. General Atomics, San Diego, California 92121 (United States)
  3. Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas, Association Euratom-Confederation Suisse, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)
  4. Department of Physics, Center for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL Coventry (United Kingdom)

The generic problem of how, in a turbulent plasma, the experimentally relevant conditions of a particle flux very close to the null are achieved, despite the presence of strong heat fluxes, is addressed. Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of plasma turbulence in tokamaks reveal a complex dependence of the particle flux as a function of the turbulent spatial scale and of the velocity space as collisionality is increased. At experimental values of collisionality, the particle flux is found close to the null, in agreement with the experiment, due to the balance between inward and outward contributions at small and large scales, respectively. These simulations provide full theoretical support to the prediction of a peaked density profile in a future nuclear fusion reactor.

OSTI ID:
21277205
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3155498; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English