Magnetic reconnection is explored on the Terrestrial Reconnection Experiment (TREX) for asymmetric inflow conditions and in a configuration where the absolute rate of reconnection is set by an external drive. Magnetic pileup enhances the upstream magnetic field of the high-density inflow, leading to an increased upstream Alfvén speed and helping to lower the normalized reconnection rate to values expected from theoretical consideration. In addition, a shock interface between the far upstream supersonic plasma inflow and the region of magnetic flux pileup is observed, important to the overall force balance of the system, thereby demonstrating the role of shock formation for configurations including a supersonically driven inflow. Despite the specialized geometry where a strong reconnection drive is applied from only one side of the reconnection layer, previous numerical and theoretical results remain robust and are shown to accurately predict the normalized rate of reconnection for the range of system sizes considered. This experimental rate of reconnection is dependent on system size, reaching values as high as 0.8 at the smallest normalized system size applied.

The zeroth law of turbulence states that, for fixed energy input into large-scale motions, the statistical steady state of a turbulent system is independent of microphysical dissipation properties. This behaviour, which is fundamental to nearly all fluid-like systems from industrial processes to galaxies, occurs because nonlinear processes generate smaller and smaller scales in the flow, until the dissipation – no matter how small – can thermalise the energy input. Using direct numerical simulations and theoretical arguments, we show that in strongly magnetised plasma turbulence such as that recently observed by the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, the zeroth law is routinely violated. Namely, when such turbulence is ‘imbalanced’ – when the large-scale energy input is dominated by Alfvénic perturbations propagating in one direction (the most common situation in space plasmas) – nonlinear conservation laws imply the existence of a ‘barrier’ at scales near the ion gyroradius. This causes energy to build up over time at large scales. The resulting magnetic-energy spectra bear a strong resemblance to those observed in situ, exhibiting a sharp, steep kinetic transition range above and around the ion-Larmor scale, with flattening at yet smaller scales. The effect thus offers a possible solution to the decade-long puzzle of the position and variability of ion-kinetic spectral breaks in plasma turbulence. The existence of the ‘barrier’ also suggests that, how a plasma is forced at large scales (the imbalance) may have a crucial influence on thermodynamic properties such as the ion-to-electron heating ratio.

We propose a numerical scheme to solve the semiclassical Vlasov–Maxwell equations for electrons with spin. The electron gas is described by a distribution function $f(t,{\boldsymbol x},{{{\boldsymbol p}}}, {\boldsymbol s})$ that evolves in an extended 9-dimensional phase space $({\boldsymbol x},{{{\boldsymbol p}}}, {\boldsymbol s})$, where $\boldsymbol s$ represents the spin vector. Using suitable approximations and symmetries, the extended phase space can be reduced to five dimensions: $(x,{{p_x}}, {\boldsymbol s})$. It can be shown that the spin Vlasov–Maxwell equations enjoy a Hamiltonian structure that motivates the use of the recently developed geometric particle-in-cell (PIC) methods. Here, the geometric PIC approach is generalized to the case of electrons with spin. Total energy conservation is very well satisfied, with a relative error below $0.05\,\%$. As a relevant example, we study the stimulated Raman scattering of an electromagnetic wave interacting with an underdense plasma, where the electrons are partially or fully spin polarized. It is shown that the Raman instability is very effective in destroying the electron polarization.

We show that non-relativistic scaling of the collisionless Vlasov–Maxwell system implies the existence of a formal invariant slow manifold in the infinite-dimensional Vlasov–Maxwell phase space. Vlasov–Maxwell dynamics restricted to the slow manifold recovers the Vlasov–Poisson and Vlasov–Darwin models as low-order approximations, and provides higher-order corrections to the Vlasov–Darwin model more generally. The slow manifold may be interpreted to all orders in perturbation theory as a collection of formal Vlasov–Maxwell solutions that do not excite light waves, and are therefore ‘dark’. We provide a heuristic lower bound for the time interval over which Vlasov–Maxwell solutions initialized optimally near the slow manifold remain dark. We also show how the dynamics on the slow manifold naturally inherits a Hamiltonian structure from the underlying system. After expressing this structure in a simple form, we use it to identify a manifestly Hamiltonian correction to the Vlasov–Darwin model. The derivation of higher-order terms is reduced to computing the corrections of the system Hamiltonian restricted to the slow manifold.

We describe the evolution of a plasma equilibrium having a toroidal topology in the presence of constant electric resistivity. After outlining the main analytical properties of the solution, we illustrate its physical implications by reproducing the essential features of a scenario for the upcoming Italian experiment Divertor Tokamak Test Facility, with a good degree of accuracy. Although we find the resistive diffusion time scale to be of the order of $10^4$ s, we observe a macroscopic change in the plasma volume on a time scale of $10^2$ s, comparable to the foreseen duration of the plasma discharge by design. In the final part of the work, we compare our self-consistent solution to the more common Solov'ev one, and to a family of nonlinear configurations.

In preparation for extending the JOREK nonlinear magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code to stellarators, a hierarchy of stellarator-capable reduced and full MHD models has been derived and tested. The derivation was presented at the EFTC 2019 conference. Continuing this line of work, we have implemented the reduced MHD model (Nikulsin et al., Phys. Plasmas, vol. 26, 2019, 102109) as well as an alternative model which was newly derived using a different set of projection operators for obtaining the scalar momentum equations from the full MHD vector momentum equation. With the new operators, the reduced model matches the standard JOREK reduced models for tokamaks in the tokamak limit and conserves energy exactly, while momentum conservation is less accurate than in the original model whenever field-aligned flow is present.

Local fluctuations of electrostatic potential, poloidal electric field, magnetic potential and electron density are simultaneously measured in the T-10 tokamak by a heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) having a five-slit energy analyser, which allows an estimate of the turbulent particle flux and $\boldsymbol {E}\times \boldsymbol {B}$ rotation velocity in the off-minor-axis gradient zone of the toroidal plasma column. The high spatial and temporal resolution of the modern multichannel HIBP makes it an effective tool to study plasma oscillations. Motivated by previous work that has documented time-resolved interactions between measured plasma parameters using correlation analysis (coherence of $E_{\textrm {pol}}$ and density $n_e$, and cross-phase), a new result from bicorrelation analysis (bicoherence of magnetic potential $A_\zeta$ and density $n_e$, and biphase) is reported for documenting the evidence of wave–wave coupling and energy transfer associated with the interaction between geodesic acoustic modes (GAM) and broadband, quasi-coherent modes.

The formation of a substantial postdisruption runaway electron current in ASDEX Upgrade material injection experiments is determined by avalanche multiplication of a small seed population of runaway electrons. For the investigation of these scenarios, the runaway electron description of the coupled 1.5-D transport solvers ASTRA-STRAHL is amended by a fluid model describing electron runaway caused by the hot-tail mechanism. Applied in simulations of combined background plasma evolution, material injection and runaway electron generation in ASDEX Upgrade discharge #33108, both the Dreicer and hot-tail mechanism for electron runaway produce only ${\sim }$ 3 kA of runaway current. In colder plasmas with core electron temperatures $T_\textrm {e,c}$ below 9 keV, the postdisruption runaway current is predicted to be insensitive to the initial temperature, in agreement with experimental observations. Yet in hotter plasmas with $T_\textrm {e,c}$ above 10 keV, hot-tail runaway can be increased by up to an order of magnitude, contributing considerably to the total postdisruption runaway current. In ASDEX Upgrade high-temperature runaway experiments, however, no runaway current is observed at the end of the disruption, despite favourable conditions for both primary and secondary runaway.

An adjoint method to calculate the gradient of island width in stellarators is presented and applied to a set of magnetic field configurations. The underlying method for calculation of the island width is that of Cary & Hanson (Phys. Fluids B, vol. 3, issue 4, 1991, pp. 1006–1014) (with a minor modification), and requires that the residue of the island centre be small. Therefore, the gradient of the residue is calculated in addition. Both the island width and the gradient calculations are verified using an analytical magnetic field configuration introduced by Reiman & Greenside (Comput. Phys. Commun., vol. 43, issue 1, 1986, pp. 157–167). The method is also applied to the calculation of the shape gradient of the width of a magnetic island in a National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) vacuum configuration with respect to positions on a coil. A gradient-based optimization is applied to a magnetic field configuration studied by Hanson & Cary (Phys. Fluids, vol. 27, issue 4, 1984, pp. 767–769) to minimize stochasticity by adding perturbations to a pair of helical coils. Although only vacuum magnetic fields and an analytical magnetic field model are considered in this work, the adjoint calculation of the island width gradient could also be applied to a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium if the derivative of the magnetic field, with respect to the equilibrium parameters, is known. Using the island width gradient calculation presented here, more general gradient-based optimization methods can be applied to design stellarators with small magnetic islands. Moreover, the sensitivity of the island size may itself be optimized to ensure that coil tolerances, with respect to island size, are kept as high as possible.

Tokamak equilibria have been derived that are analytic solutions to the Grad–Shafranov equation. This paper, Part 1, describes a wide range of such equilibria including smooth limiter surfaces, double- and single-null divertor surfaces, arbitrary aspect ratio, elongation, triangularity and beta. Part 2 generalizes the analysis to include edge pedestals and toroidal flow.

Between the base of the solar corona at $r=r_\textrm {b}$ and the Alfvén critical point at $r=r_\textrm {A}$, where $r$ is heliocentric distance, the solar-wind density decreases by a factor $ \mathop > \limits_\sim 10^5$, but the plasma temperature varies by a factor of only a few. In this paper, I show that such quasi-isothermal evolution out to $r=r_\textrm {A}$ is a generic property of outflows powered by reflection-driven Alfvén-wave (AW) turbulence, in which outward-propagating AWs partially reflect, and counter-propagating AWs interact to produce a cascade of fluctuation energy to small scales, which leads to turbulent heating. Approximating the sub-Alfvénic region as isothermal, I first present a brief, simplified calculation showing that in a solar or stellar wind powered by AW turbulence with minimal conductive losses, $\dot {M} \simeq P_\textrm {AW}(r_\textrm {b})/v_\textrm {esc}^2$, $U_{\infty } \simeq v_\textrm {esc}$, and $T\simeq m_\textrm {p} v_\textrm {esc}^2/[8 k_\textrm {B} \ln (v_\textrm {esc}/\delta v_\textrm {b})]$, where $\dot {M}$ is the mass outflow rate, $U_{\infty }$ is the asymptotic wind speed, $T$ is the coronal temperature, $v_\textrm {esc}$ is the escape velocity of the Sun, $\delta v_\textrm {b}$ is the fluctuating velocity at $r_\textrm {b}$, $P_\textrm {AW}$ is the power carried by outward-propagating AWs, $k_\textrm {B}$ is the Boltzmann constant, and $m_\textrm {p}$ is the proton mass. I then develop a more detailed model of the transition region, corona, and solar wind that accounts for the heat flux $q_\textrm {b}$ from the coronal base into the transition region and momentum deposition by AWs. I solve analytically for $q_\textrm {b}$ by balancing conductive heating against internal-energy losses from radiation, $p\,\textrm {d} V$ work, and advection within the transition region. The density at $r_\textrm {b}$ is determined by balancing turbulent heating and radiative cooling at $r_\textrm {b}$. I solve the equations of the model analytically in two different parameter regimes. In one of these regimes, the leading-order analytic solution reproduces the results of the aforementioned simplified calculation of $\dot {M}$, $U_\infty$, and $T$. Analytic and numerical solutions to the model equations match a number of observations.

Part 1 described a wide range of analytic tokamak equilibria modelling smooth limiter surfaces, double- and single-null divertor surfaces, arbitrary aspect ratio, elongation, triangularity and beta. Part 2 generalizes the analysis to further include edge pedestals and toroidal flow. Specifically, edge pedestals are allowed in the pressure, pressure gradient and toroidal current density. Also, an edge-localized contribution to the bootstrap current is treated. In terms of flow, analytic solutions are obtained for two cases: a $\gamma = 2$ adiabatic and a $\gamma = \infty $ incompressible energy conservation relation.

A first-principles method to calculate the critical temperature gradient for the onset of the ion-temperature-gradient mode (ITG) in linear gyrokinetics is presented. We find that conventional notions of the connection length previously invoked in tokamak research should be revised and replaced by a generalized correlation length to explain this onset in stellarators. Simple numerical experiments and gyrokinetic theory show that localized ‘spikes’ in shear, a hallmark of stellarator geometry, are generally insufficient to constrain the parallel correlation length of the mode. ITG modes that localize within bad drift curvature wells that have a critical gradient set by peak drift curvature are also observed. A case study of near-helical stellarators of increasing field period demonstrates that the critical gradient can indeed be controlled by manipulating the magnetic geometry, but underscores the need for a general framework to evaluate the critical gradient. We conclude that average curvature and global shear set the correlation length of resonant ITG modes near the absolute critical gradient, the physics of which is included through direct solution of the gyrokinetic equation. Our method, which handles the general geometry and is more efficient than conventional gyrokinetic solvers, could be applied to future studies of stellarator ITG turbulence optimization.

The exact energy and angular momentum conservation laws are derived by the Noether method for the Hamiltonian and symplectic representations of the gauge-free electromagnetic gyrokinetic Vlasov–Maxwell equations. These gyrokinetic equations, which are solely expressed in terms of electromagnetic fields, describe the low-frequency turbulent fluctuations that perturb a time-independent toroidally-axisymmetric magnetized plasma. The explicit proofs presented here provide a complete picture of the transfer of energy and angular momentum between the gyrocentres and the perturbed electromagnetic fields, in which the crucial roles played by gyrocentre polarization and magnetization effects are highlighted. In addition to yielding an exact angular momentum conservation law, the gyrokinetic Noether equation yields an exact momentum transport equation, which might be useful in more general equilibrium magnetic geometries.

The evolution of the radial profile of the rotation of a weakly magnetized plasma column is investigated experimentally in a radio-frequency argon plasma at low pressure when a strong electron current is emitted by large emissive cathodes. Current injection from large emissive cathodes over a background plasma column (with a plasma density of a few $10^{18}\ \textrm {m}^{-3}$) is characterized. Radial scans of the ion velocity show that a continuous control of the rotation profile may be obtained using two spatial configurations for the locations of the emissive cathodes (either in the centre or at the edge of the plasma column). The rotation profile results from the electric drift velocity, damped by the drag exerted on the ions. We demonstrate that the evolution of the rotation profile with the injected current is then controlled by the modification of the plasma potential profile in the presence of strongly emissive cathodes.

Standard quasilinear descriptions are based on the constant magnetic field form of the quasilinear operator so improperly treat the trapped electron modifications associated with tokamak geometry. Moreover, successive poloidal transits of the Landau resonance during lower hybrid current drive in a tokamak are well correlated, and these geometrical details must be properly retained to account for the presence of trapped electrons that do not contribute to the driven current. The recently derived quasilinear operator in tokamak geometry accounts for these features and finds that the quasilinear diffusivity is proportional to a delta function with a transit or bounce averaged argument (rather than a local Landau resonance condition). The new quasilinear operator is combined with the Cordey (Nucl. Fusion, vol. 16, 1976, pp. 499–507) eigenfunctions to properly derive a rather simple and compact analytic expression for the trapped electron modifications to the driven lower hybrid current and the efficiency of the current drive.

Space plasmas are known to be out of (local) thermodynamic equilibrium, as observations show direct or indirect evidences of non-thermal velocity distributions of plasma particles. Prominent are the anisotropies relative to the magnetic field, anisotropic temperatures, field-aligned beams or drifting populations, but also, the suprathermal populations enhancing the high-energy tails of the observed distributions. Drifting bi-Kappa distribution functions can provide a good representation of these features and enable for a kinetic fundamental description of the dispersion and stability of these collision-poor plasmas, where particle–particle collisions are rare but wave–particle interactions appear to play a dominant role in the dynamics. In the present paper we derive the full set of components of the dispersion tensor for magnetized plasma populations modelled by drifting bi-Kappa distributions. A new solver called DIS-K (DIspersion Solver for Kappa plasmas) is proposed to solve numerically the dispersion relations of high complexity. The solver is validated by comparing with the damped and unstable wave solutions obtained with other codes, operating in the limits of drifting Maxwellian and non-drifting Kappa models. These new theoretical tools enable more realistic characterizations, both analytical and numerical, of wave fluctuations and instabilities in complex kinetic configurations measured in-situ in space plasmas.

Kinetic-ballooning-mode (KBM) turbulence is studied via gyrokinetic flux-tube simulations in three magnetic equilibria that exhibit small average magnetic shear: the Helically Symmetric eXperiment (HSX), the helical-axis Heliotron-J and a circular tokamak geometry. For HSX, the onset of KBM being the dominant instability at low wavenumber occurs at a critical value of normalized plasma pressure $\beta ^{\rm KBM}_{\rm crit}$ that is an order of magnitude smaller than the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) ballooning limit $\beta ^{\rm MHD}_{\rm crit}$ when a strong ion temperature gradient (ITG) is present. However, $\beta ^{\rm KBM}_{\rm crit}$ increases and approaches the MHD ballooning limit as the ITG tends to zero. For these configurations, $\beta ^{\rm KBM}_{\rm crit}$ also increases as the magnitude of the average magnetic shear increases, regardless of the sign of the normalized magnetic shear. Simulations of Heliotron-J and a circular axisymmetric geometry display behaviour similar to HSX with respect to $\beta ^{\rm KBM}_{\rm crit}$. Despite large KBM growth rates at long wavelengths in HSX, saturation of KBM turbulence with $\beta > \beta _{\rm crit}^{\rm KBM}$ is achievable in HSX and results in lower heat transport relative to the electrostatic limit by a factor of roughly five. Nonlinear simulations also show that KBM transport dominates the dynamics when KBMs are destabilized linearly, even if KBM growth rates are subdominant to ITG growth rates.

The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the generation of soft X-ray emission from an anharmonic collisional nanoplasma by a laser–nanocluster interaction. The electric field of the laser beam interacts with the nanocluster and leads to ionization of the cluster atoms, which then produces a nanoplasma. Because of the nonlinear restoring force in an anharmonic nanoplasma, the fluctuations and heating rate of, as well as the power radiated by, the electrons in the nanocluster plasma will be notably different from those arising from a linear restoring force. By comparing the nonlinear restoring force state (which arises from an anharmonic cluster) with that of the linear restoring force (in harmonic clusters), the cluster temperature specifically changes at the resonant frequency relative to the linear restoring force, while the variation of the anharmonic cluster radius is almost identical to that of the harmonic cluster radius. In addition, it is revealed that a sharp peak of X-ray emission arises after some picoseconds in deuterium, helium, neon and argon clusters.

Compton scattering of gamma rays propagating in a pair plasma can drive the formation of a relativistic electron positron beam. This process is scrutinized theoretically and numerically via particle-in-cell simulations. In addition, we determine in which conditions the beam can prompt a beam-plasma instability and convert its kinetic energy into magnetic energy. We argue that such conditions can be met at the photosphere radius of bright gamma-ray bursts.