ABSTRACT
Simulation of a Langevin-dynamics model demonstrates emergence of critical fluctuations and anomalous grain transport which have been observed in experiments on "soft" quasi-two-dimensional dusty plasma clusters. Our model does not contain external drive or plasma interactions that serve to drive the system away from thermodynamic equilibrium. The grains are confined by an external potential, interact via static Yukawa forces, and are subject to stochastic heating and dissipation from neutrals. One remarkable feature is emergence of leptokurtic probability distributions of grain displacements xi(tau) on time scales tau < tau(Delta), where tau(Delta) is the time at which the standard deviation sigma(tau) identical with (xi(2)(tau))(1/2) approaches the mean intergrain distance Delta. Others are development of humps in the distributions on multiples of Delta , anomalous Hurst exponents, and transitions from leptokurtic toward Gaussian displacement distributions on time scales tau > tau(Delta). The latter is a signature of intermittency, here interpreted as a transition from bursty transport associated with hopping on intermediate time scales to vortical flows on longer time scales. These intermittency features are quantitatively modeled by a single-particle Itô-Langevin stochastic equation with a nonlinear drift term.
Subject(s)
Dust/analysis , Gases/chemistry , Hot Temperature , Models, Theoretical , Nonlinear Dynamics , Computer SimulationABSTRACT
The momentum balance has been applied to the ExB flow in the edge region of a reversed field pinch (RFP) configuration. All terms, including those involving fluctuations, have been measured in stationary condition in the edge region of the Extrap-T2R RFP experiment. It is found that the component of the Reynolds stress driven by electrostatic fluctuations is the term playing the major role in driving the shear of the ExB flow to a value marginal for turbulent suppression, so that the results are in favor of a turbulence self-regulating mechanism underlying the momentum balance at the edge. Balancing the sheared flow driving and damping terms, the plasma viscosity is found anomalous and consistent with the diffusivity due to electrostatic turbulence.
ABSTRACT
Coherent structures identified in two reversed field pinch experiments are interpreted as a dynamic balance of dipolar and monopolar vortices growing and evolving under the effect of the ExB flow shear. For the first time their contribution to the anomalous transport has been estimated in fusion related plasmas, showing that they can account for up to 50% of the total plasma diffusivity. The experimental findings indicate that the diffusion coefficient associated with the coherent structures depends on the relative population of the two types of vortices and is minimum when the two populations are equal. An interpretative model is proposed to explain this feature.
ABSTRACT
A statistical analysis of the anomalous particle flux in the edge region of the RFX experiment has revealed that laminar times between bursts, which account for more than 50% of the losses, have a power law distribution and that flux fluctuations are not self-similar. These properties are found in contrast with a wide class of self-organized-criticality models so that it is concluded that there is no experimental evidence of avalanchelike process occurrence in the plasma of RFX.
ABSTRACT
In order to test the self-organized criticality (SOC) paradigm in transport processes, a novel technique has been applied for the first time to plasmas confined in reversed field pinch configuration. This technique consists of an analysis of the probability distribution function of the times between bursts in density fluctuations measured by microwave reflectometry and electrostatic probes. The same analysis has also been applied to intermittent events sorted out from the Gaussian background. In both cases, the experimental results disagree with the predictions for a SOC system.
