Modelling AUG scrape-off-layer plasma with full-f continuum Electromagnetic Gyrokinetic simulation

Divertor heat load reduction is a key issue yet to be resolved for all next-generation tokamaks. However, a thorough understanding of the behavior of plasma in the SOL demands first-principle simulation. We employ the Gkeyll computational framework, the first successful full-f continuum electromagnetic gyrokinetic code on open field lines to explore AUG-SOL turbulence. Gkeyll has been efficiently employed to analyze the SOL turbulence in NSTX device. Here, we have carried out similar simulations for AUG-like parameters. The ion and electron density and temperature profiles in the outer-midplane region are reconstructed in our simulation and compared with the experimental measurements. The available experimental data from various radial measurements as well as our simulation show generation and propagation of ion-density filaments in the SOL region. Additionally, we identify and track these coherent structures within the simulation domain. The radial and poloidal velocity of these blobs, auto-correlation function, and packing-fraction of the blobs are measured at a statistically steady-state region. We compare heat load onto the lower divertor as well as the turbulence statistics in the SOL region for two different experimental parameters.