Role of some specific high toroidal and poloidal wave number GAE’s in anomalous electron transport in NSTX plasmas

ORAL

Abstract

We have performed numerical simulations using the guiding center ORBIT code to investigate the role of high toroidal and poloidal wave number global Alfven eigen (GAE) modes in the anomalous electron transport in NSTX plasmas. Our findings indicate that certain combinations of these GAE's produce the anomalous electron transport within the range of consistent experimental findings [1] and TRANSP modeling predictions. Previous research [2] suggested that a minimum threshold of GAE modes (>15) is required for the anomalous electron transport. However, our new simulation reveals that this threshold could be lowered two-fold by selecting a specific combination of high toroidal and poloidal wave number GAE's, guided by experimental observations [1]. Additionally, we have also investigated the role of heat convection and diffusion in the anomalous transport mechanism and found that convection plays an important role.

*Supported by the US-DOE Grant # DE-SC0021271 and DE- AC02-09CH11466

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Publication: [1] Stutman et al., PRL 102, 115002 (2009)
[2] Gorelenkov et al., Nucl. Fusion 50, 084012 (2010)

Presenters

  • Neeraj Chaubey

    • Physics and Astronomy Dept., University of California Los Angeles

Authors

  • Neeraj Chaubey

    • Physics and Astronomy Dept., University of California Los Angeles

  • Neal A Crocker

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Nikolai N Gorelenkov

    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

  • Roscoe B White

    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory