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Title: Turbulence-driven anisotropic electron tail generation during magnetic reconnection

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection (MR) plays an important role in particle transport, energization, and acceleration in space, astrophysical, and laboratory plasmas. In the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed field pinch, discrete MR events release large amounts of energy from the equilibrium magnetic field, a fraction of which is transferred to electrons and ions. Previous experiments revealed an anisotropic electron tail that favors the perpendicular direction and is symmetric in the parallel. New profile measurements of x-ray emission show that the tail distribution is localized near the magnetic axis, consistent modeling of the bremsstrahlung emission. The tail appears first near the magnetic axis and then spreads radially, and the dynamics in the anisotropy and diffusion are discussed. The data presented imply that the electron tail formation likely results from a turbulent wave-particle interaction and provides evidence that high energy electrons are escaping the core-localized region through pitch angle scattering into the parallel direction, followed by stochastic parallel transport to the plasma edge. Finally, new measurements also show a strong correlation between high energy x-ray measurements and tearing mode dynamics, suggesting that the coupling between core and edge tearing modes is essential for energetic electron tail formation.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1]
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  1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Physics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1524585
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1425714
Grant/Contract Number:  
FC02-05ER54814; PHY08-21899
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 25; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

DuBois, A. M., Scherer, A., Almagri, A. F., Anderson, J. K., Pandya, M. D., and Sarff, J. S. Turbulence-driven anisotropic electron tail generation during magnetic reconnection. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5016240.
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DuBois, A. M., Scherer, A., Almagri, A. F., Anderson, J. K., Pandya, M. D., & Sarff, J. S. Turbulence-driven anisotropic electron tail generation during magnetic reconnection. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016240
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DuBois, A. M., Scherer, A., Almagri, A. F., Anderson, J. K., Pandya, M. D., and Sarff, J. S. Tue . "Turbulence-driven anisotropic electron tail generation during magnetic reconnection". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016240. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1524585.
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@article{osti_1524585,
title = {Turbulence-driven anisotropic electron tail generation during magnetic reconnection},
author = {DuBois, A. M. and Scherer, A. and Almagri, A. F. and Anderson, J. K. and Pandya, M. D. and Sarff, J. S.},
abstractNote = {Magnetic reconnection (MR) plays an important role in particle transport, energization, and acceleration in space, astrophysical, and laboratory plasmas. In the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed field pinch, discrete MR events release large amounts of energy from the equilibrium magnetic field, a fraction of which is transferred to electrons and ions. Previous experiments revealed an anisotropic electron tail that favors the perpendicular direction and is symmetric in the parallel. New profile measurements of x-ray emission show that the tail distribution is localized near the magnetic axis, consistent modeling of the bremsstrahlung emission. The tail appears first near the magnetic axis and then spreads radially, and the dynamics in the anisotropy and diffusion are discussed. The data presented imply that the electron tail formation likely results from a turbulent wave-particle interaction and provides evidence that high energy electrons are escaping the core-localized region through pitch angle scattering into the parallel direction, followed by stochastic parallel transport to the plasma edge. Finally, new measurements also show a strong correlation between high energy x-ray measurements and tearing mode dynamics, suggesting that the coupling between core and edge tearing modes is essential for energetic electron tail formation.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5016240},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 5,
volume = 25,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Tue Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016240
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Cited by: 4 works
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Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1 FIG. 1: (a) Evolution of $U$mag for two magnetic reconnection cycles in a 500 kA standard ($F$ =- 0.2) plasma in MST. (b) Evolution of tearing mode amplitudes for the edge-resonant $m$ = 1, $n$ = 1 (red, solid) mode and the (innermost) core resonant $m$ = 1, $n$ =more » 6 (blue, dashed) mode. (c) The evolution of the reversal parameter, $F$. Notice that the minimum $F$ at the MR is dependent on each individual event. The insets show the magnetic energy (top) and tearing mode amplitudes (middle) averaged over 485 events (shaded region represents the standard error of the mean), with time relative to MR.« less
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    Transport equations in magnetized plasmas for non-Maxwellian distribution functions
    journal, October 2018

    • Oliveira, D. S.; Galvão, R. M. O.
    • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 10
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