0000000000527713
AUTHOR
R. Spigler
Fusion Burning in Magnetically Confined Toroidal Plasmas
The thermonuclear instability in a toroidal fusion burning plasma [1] is shown to manifest itself as a driving factor of modes that are radially localized around closed field lines on rational magnetic surfaces. The radial profile of the electron temperature perturbations can be of two parities: even and odd. In the first case the effective longitudinal thermal conductivity can be reduced by the effects of modes involving magnetic reconnection that have a radial transverse reconnected field with a odd (radial) profile. In the second case magnetic reconnection is shown to have a stronger effect and is characterized by reconnected transverse fields that have an even radial profile. A class of…
Three-dimensional features in burning plasmas
A next major step in the research toward magnetic fusion energy production is to carry out experimental campaigns exploring regimes with relevant amount of fusion power. So far, the theoretical knowledge of the path toward a fusion burning plasma has been acquired mainly by performing numerical studies in 0 or 1-1.5 dimensions. Due to the marked anisotropy of magnetically confined plasmas, however, three-dimensional effects might play a role. In particular, the drastic change in magnetic topology associated with reconnecting modes on selected rational magnetic surfaces [1] may decrease the thermal electron conductivity parallel to the magnetic field lines, with a consequent impact on the el…
Importance and Unpredictability of Self-organization Processes in Fusion Burning Plasmas
Self-organization processes are considered to have an important role in well confined plasmas produced by present day experiments where the heating source is externally applied. The observation of ``Profile Consistency'' [1] is viewed as a manifestation of the presence of these processes. In the case of fusion burning plasmas close to self-sustainment (ignition) most of the heating due to fusion products is strongly dependent on the evolution of both the plasma temperature and density profiles. Therefore, self-organization is expected to be of considerably greater importance than in the case of non-reacting plasmas. This fact involves a significant degree of unpredictability on the outcome …
Magneto Gravitational Modes Driven by the Modulated Gravitational Field of Compact Collapsing Binaries*
A new theoretical process [1], to create high energy particle populations during the collapse of neutron star - neutron star or black hole - black hole binaries, has been identified. The oscillatory gravitational potential that is associated with the rotating binary is characterized by two frequencies, in the case where the masses of the two components are not equal, that reduce to one (the main) when the two masses are equal. Consequently the gravitationally confined plasma surrounding the considered binary will oscillate with the same frequencies. When one of these (e.g. the main) will become about equal to the frequency (about that of the compressional Alfvén wave) of a newly identified …