K. G. McClements & R. J. Mckay
Impurity ions with sufficiently high mass in toroidally-rotating tokamak plasmas are deeply trapped by a centrifugal potential well in the outer plasma midplane, with a bounce period that is shorter than both the bounce period of magnetically-trapped ions and the collision time. As a result trace impurity ions can undergo collisional transport at a…
PublishedA. Thyagaraja K. G. McClements
Equations describing the nonrelativistic motion of a charged particle in an arbitrary noninertial reference frame are derived from the relativistically invariant form of the particle action. It is shown that the equations of motion can be written in the same form in inertial and noninertial frames, with the effective electric and magnetic fields in…
PublishedK. G. McClements L. Fletcher
The possibility that electrons could be accelerated by inertial Alfvén waves to hard X-ray-emitting energies in the low solar corona during flares is investigated theoretically. This investigation is prompted in part by recent microwave observations indicating that the coronal magnetic field is strong enough that the Alfvén velocity c A above act…
PublishedR. J. Mckay K. G. McClements A. Thyagaraja L. Fletcher Euratom/Ukaea
A full orbit test-particle approach is used to study the collisional transport of impurity (carbon) ions in spherical tokamak (ST) plasmas with transonic and subsonic toroidal flows. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated by reproducing the results of classical transport theory in the large aspect ratio limit. The equilibrium parameters used…
PublishedN. Ben Ayed K. G. McClements A. Thyagaraja
A perturbative three-dimensional analysis is presented of Alfvén waves in a magnetic X-point configuration with a strong longitudinal guide field. The waves are assumed to propagate in the direction of the X-line, and both the plasma beta and equilibrium plasma current are taken to be zero. This provides a simple model of Alfvén wave propagation …
PublishedA. Thyagaraja F. Schwander K. G. McClements
Collective fast ion effects on flows in tokamaks are investigated analytically and numerically. A general analysis of noncollisional electrodynamic momentum transfer from fast ions to bulk plasma is presented, with polarization effects and dissipation in the bulk plasma taken into account. The analysis is illustrated using idealized simulations of …
PublishedA. Thyagaraja K. G. McClements
Toroidal flow velocities of the order of the local sound speed and poloidal flows exceeding theoretical predictions have been observed in several tokamaks. Steady toroidal and poloidal flow effects are studied using dissipationless single-fluid and two-fluid theory, with electron inertia neglected in the latter case. An exact analytic treatment of …
PublishedK. G. McClements A. Thyagaraja
The injection of neutral particle beams counter to the plasma current direction in the Mega-Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST) [A. Sykes, R. J. Akers, L. C. Appel and et al. , Nucl. Fusion, 41 , 1423 (2001)] leads to substantial losses of energetic beam ions and also rapid toroidal rotation. The electrodynamic consequences of energetic ion loss on tok…
PublishedK. G. McClements
A full orbit code is used to compute collisionless losses of fusion particles from three proposed burning plasma tokamaks: the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor ITER; a spherical tokamak power plant (STPP) [T. C. Hender, A. Bond, J. Edwards, P. J. Karditsas, K. G. McClements, J. Mustoe, D. V. Sherwood, G. M. Voss, and H. R. Wilson, Fusion …
PublishedC. Courtois R.A.D. Grundy A.D. Ash D.M. Chambers N.C. Woolsey R.O. Dendy K.G. McClements
Results from an experimental study of the collisionless interaction of two laser-produced plasmas in a magnetic field with applications to supernova remnant shock physics are presented. The dynamics of the two plasmas and their interaction are studied with and without magnetic field through spatially and temporally resolved measurements of the elec…
Published