Gennady Fiksel
MST Group, University of Wisconsin
"Ions in the Reversed Field Pinch:
Momentum Transport, Heating, and Confinement"
Ions exhibit remarkable behavior in reversed-field pinch plasma. This behavior is very closely related to the plasma magnetic activity, in particular, periodic spontaneous magnetic reconnections. The plasma flow profile flattens during reconnection, similar to the Taylor's relaxation of current profile. Numerical and analytical calculations and measurements indicate that this momentum transport is attributed to fluctuation induced Reynolds and Maxwell stresses. Very strong and powerful heating of plasma ions is also observed. The heating is concentrated where reconnection is occurring. The amount of heating depends on the magnetic energy released during reconnection. Several mechanisms have been proposed, including viscous dissipation of tearing flows and resonance ion-cyclotron heating. None of these models explains all the experimental observations. Lately, the reconnection heating has been used to obtain well confined plasma with Ti greater than 1 keV.
Hosted by Prof. Thomas Pedersen
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