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D. A. Kaltsas

Publications and source records attributed to D. A. Kaltsas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Physics-Informed Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks for Grad-Shafranov Tokamak Equilibria

We employ equation-driven, physics-constrained deep learning to solve the fixed-boundary Grad-Shafranov (GS) equilibrium problem, constructing axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic equilibria with tokamak-relevant characteristics. Equilibria across linear (Solov'ev) and nonlinear profile functions are constructed using Physics-Informed Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs) that approximate GS solutions while satisfying appropriate boundary conditions. A highly nonlinear pressure profile recreating high-confinement mode phenomenology, such as pressure pedestals and significant bootstrap current components, is also considered. To enable efficient convergence, guided training schemes are employed, specifically homotopy-based continuation curriculum learning and transfer learning via pretrained networks. While computing nonlinear equilibria employing standard Multi-Layer Perceptrons under unguided physics-informed training remains an elusive or computationally inefficient task, our framework overcomes this limitation. Specifically, we demonstrate that the combination of three key elements, namely KAN architecture, guided training schemes, and the self-scaled Broyden optimization method, enables stable, efficient, and accurate equilibrium computation with simultaneous profile parameter identification in view of equilibrium constraints.

physics.plasm-ph

A special exact class of three-dimensional equilibria of a magnetized plasma exhibiting closed and nested toroidal magnetic surfaces

We construct a special class of three-dimensional (3D) equilibria with pressure anisotropy which showcase closed, nested toroidal magnetic surfaces that are strongly asymmetric in the toroidal direction by applying a sinusoidal perturbation to the axisymmetric Solov'ev equilibrium. They also exhibit distinct closed and nested current-density surfaces. For certain values of the free parameters involved, the perturbations lead to the formation of magnetic islands and stochastic areas in the outer plasma region, while well-defined magnetic surfaces persist in the inner region. In addition, it is demonstrated that the existence of closed and nested surfaces within the plasma region on which the magnetic field modulus is uniform (isomagnetic surfaces) is neither necessary nor sufficient for the existence of respective closed and nested magnetic surfaces.

physics.plasm-ph

Imposing quasineutrality on electrostatic plasmas via the Dirac theory of constraints

We present a method for imposing quasineutrality and, more generally, charge density conservation in the Vlasov-Poisson (VP) and Vlasov-Ampère (VA) systems, which describe electrostatic plasma dynamics, by applying the Dirac theory of constraints. Leveraging the Hamiltonian field formulations of the VP and VA models, we construct generalized Dirac brackets using the Dirac algorithm. The resulting constrained systems enforce charge density conservation, and consequently quasineutrality, given that the initial charge density is zero, through new advection terms in the Vlasov equations involving generalized-force terms, while the electric field is eliminated from the constrained Vlasov dynamics. To verify charge density conservation we conduct one-dimensional numerical experiments using a semi-Lagrangian method, demonstrating that the enforcement of the quasineutrality constraint significantly modifies the dynamics. This approach enables us to identify the forces required to enforce quasineutrality, offering a systematic way to assess the validity of the quasineutral approximation across different kinetic scales.

physics.plasm-ph

Hamiltonian formulation of the quasineutral Vlasov-Poisson system

Slow manifold reduction and the theory of Poisson-Dirac submanifolds are used to deduce a Hamiltonian formulation for a quasineutral limit of the planar, collisionless, magnetized Vlasov-Poisson system. Motion on the slow manifold models plasma dynamics free of fast Langmuir oscillations. Preservation of quasineutrality requires the bulk plasma flow is incompressible. The electric field is determined by counterbalancing plasma stresses that would otherwise produce compression. The Hamiltonian structure for the quasineutral model synthesizes well-known Poisson brackets for incompressible fluids and collisionless kinetic equations.

math-ph

Hybrid fluid-kinetic cylindrical equilibria with axial background magnetic field

Self-consistent, one-dimensional quasineutral screw-pinch equilibria are constructed within a hybrid model that couples fluid electrons with kinetic ions governed by the Vlasov equation. The equilibria depend on the radial coordinate perpendicular to the cylindrical axis and include an axial background magnetic field. Adopting a three-parameter ion distribution function depending on the energy and the canonical momenta conjugate to the two ignorable coordinates, the problem is reduced to a set of four quasilinear ODEs which are solved numerically. Both static equilibria and equilibria with macroscopic ion sheared velocities are obtained. The pressure of the electron fluid is isotropic and the electron contribution to the current density is parallel to the magnetic field, while the kinetic ions are associated with a non-gyrotropic pressure tensor. By means of the solutions the various equilibrium quantities are calculated and the impact of the free parameters on the equilibrium characteristics is examined.

physics.plasm-ph

Multi-soliton solutions and data-driven discovery of higher-order Burgers' hierarchy equations with physics informed neural networks

The Burgers hierarchy consists of nonlinear evolutionary partial differential equations (PDEs) with progressively higher-order dispersive and nonlinear terms. Notable members of this hierarchy are the Burgers equation and the Sharma-Tasso-Olver equation, which are widely applied in fields such as plasma physics, fluid mechanics, optics, and biophysics to describe nonlinear waves in inhomogeneous media. Various soliton and multi-soliton solutions to these equations have been identified and the fission and fusion of solitons have been studied using analytical and numerical techniques. Recently, deep learning methods, particularly Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs), have emerged as a new approach for solving PDEs. These methods use deep neural networks to minimize PDE residuals while fitting relevant data. Although PINNs have been applied to equations like Burgers' and Korteweg-de Vries, higher-order members of the Burgers hierarchy remain unexplored in this context. In this study, we employ a PINN algorithm to approximate multi-soliton solutions of linear combinations of equations within the Burgers hierarchy. This semi-supervised approach encodes the PDE and relevant data, determining PDE parameters and resolving the linear combination to discover the PDE that describes the data. Additionally, we employ gradient-enhanced PINNs (gPINNs) and a conservation law, specific to the generic Burgers' hierarchy, to improve training accuracy. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of PINNs in describing multi-soliton solutions within the generic Burgers' hierarchy, their robustness to increased levels of data noise, and their limited yet measurable predictive capabilities. They also verify the potential for training refinement and accuracy improvement using enhanced approaches in certain cases, while enabling the discovery of the PDE model that describes the observed solitary structures.

physics.comp-ph

New axisymmetric equilibria with flow from an expansion about the generalized Solov'ev solution

We construct analytic solutions to the generalized Grad-Shafranov equation, which incorporates both toroidal and poloidal flows. This is achieved by adopting a general linearizing ansatz for the free-function terms of the equation and expanding the generalized Solov'ev solution [Ch. Simintzis, G. N. Throumoulopoulos, G. Pantis and H. Tasso, Phys. Plasmas {\bf 8}, 2641 (2001)]. On the basis of these solutions, we examine how the genaralized Solov'ev configuration is modified as the values of the free parameters associated with the additional pressure, poloidal-current and electric-field terms are changed. Thus, a variety of equilibria of tokamak, spherical tokamak and spheromak pertinence are constructed, including D-shaped configurations with positive and negative triangularity and diverted configurations with either a couple of X-points or a single X-point.

physics.plasm-ph

Axisymmetric hybrid Vlasov equilibria with applications to tokamak plasmas

We derive axisymmetric equilibrium equations in the context of the hybrid Vlasov model with kinetic ions and massless fluid electrons, assuming isothermal electrons and deformed Maxwellian distribution functions for the kinetic ions. The equilibrium system comprises a Grad-Shafranov partial differential equation and an integral equation. These equations can be utilized to calculate the equilibrium magnetic field and ion distribution function, respectively, for given particle density or given ion and electron toroidal current density profiles. The resulting solutions describe states characterized by toroidal plasma rotation and toroidal electric current density. Additionally, due to the presence of fluid electrons, these equilibria also exhibit a poloidal current density component. This is in contrast to the fully kinetic Vlasov model, where axisymmetric Jeans equilibria can only accommodate toroidal currents and flows, given the absence of a third integral of the microscopic motion.

physics.plasm-ph

A similarity reduction of the generalized Grad-Shafranov equation

We extend previous work [Y. E. Litvinenko, Phys. Plasmas 17, 074502 (2010)] on a direct method for finding similarity reductions of partial differential equations such as the Grad-Shafranov equation, to the case of the generalized Grad-Shafranov equation (GGSE) with arbitrary incompressible flow. Several families of analytic solutions are constructed, the generalized Solovév solution being a particular case, which contain both the classical and non-classical group-invariant solutions to the GGSE. Those solutions can describe a variety of equilibrium configurations pertinent to toroidal magnetically confined plasmas and planetary magnetospheres.

physics.plasm-ph

Analytic Hall Magnetohydrodynamics toroidal equilibria via the energy-Casimir variational principle

Equilibrium equations for magnetically confined, axisymmetric plasmas are derived by means of the energy-Casimir variational principle in the context of Hall magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). This approach stems from the noncanonical Hamiltonian structure of Hall MHD, the simplest, quasineutral two-fluid model that incorporates contributions due to ion Hall drifts. The axisymmetric Casimir invariants are used, along with the Hamiltonian functional to apply the energy-Casimir variational principle for axisymmetric two-fluid plasmas with incompressible ion flows. This results in a system of equations of the Grad-Shafranov-Bernoulli (GSB) type with four free functions. Two families of analytic solutions to the GSB system are then calculated, based on specific choices for the free functions. These solutions are subsequently applied to Tokamak-relevant configurations using proper boundary shaping methods. The Hall MHD model predicts a departure of the ion velocity surfaces from the magnetic surfaces which are frozen in the electron fluid. This separation of the characteristic surfaces is corroborated by the analytic solutions calculated in this study. The equilibria constructed by these solutions exhibit favorable characteristics for plasma confinement, for example they possess closed and nested magnetic and flow surfaces with pressure profiles peaked at the plasma core. The relevance of these solutions to laboratory and astrophysical plasmas is finally discussed, with particular focus on systems that involve length scales on the order of the ion skin depth.

physics.plasm-ph

Neural network tokamak equilibria with incompressible flows

We present several numerical solutions to a generalized Grad-Shafranov equation (GGSE), which governs axisymmetric plasma equilibria with incompressible flows of arbitrary direction, using fully connected, feed-forward, deep neural networks, also known as multi-layer perceptrons. Such artificial neural network (ANNs) are trained to approximate tokamak-relevant equilibria upon minimizing the GGSE mean squared residual in the plasma volume and the poloidal flux function on the plasma boundary. Solutions for the Solovev and the general linearizing ansatz for the free functions involved in the GGSE are obtained and benchmarked against known analytic solutions. We also construct a non-linear equilibrium incorporating characteristics relevant to the high confinement mode. In our numerical experiments it was observed that changing the radial distribution of the training points has a surprisingly small effect on the accuracy of the trained solution. In particular it is shown that localizing the training points at the plasma edge results in ANN solutions that describe quite accurately the entire magnetic configuration, thus demonstrating the interpolation capabilities of the ANNs.

physics.plasm-ph

Hamiltonian kinetic-Hall Magnetohydrodynamics with fluid and kinetic ions in the current and pressure coupling schemes

We present two generalized hybrid kinetic-Hall magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models describing the interaction of a two-fluid bulk plasma, which consists of thermal ions and electrons, with energetic, suprathermal ion populations described by Vlasov dynamics. The dynamics of the thermal components are governed by standard fluid equations in the Hall MHD limit with the electron momentum equation providing an Ohm's law with Hall and electron pressure terms involving a gyrotropic electron pressure tensor. The coupling of the bulk, low-energy plasma with the energetic particle dynamics is accomplished through the current density (current coupling scheme; CCS) and the ion pressure tensor appearing in the momentum equation (pressure coupling scheme; PCS) in the first and the second model, respectively. The CCS is a generalization of two well-known models, because in the limit of vanishing energetic and thermal ion densities we recover the standard Hall MHD and the hybrid kinetic-ions/fluid-electron model, respectively. This provides us with the capability to study in a continuous manner the global impact of the energetic particles in a regime extending from vanishing to dominant energetic particle densities. The noncanonical Hamiltonian structures of the CCS and PCS, which can be exploited to study equilibrium and stability properties through the energy-Casimir variational principle, are identified. As a first application here, we derive a generalized Hall MHD Grad--Shafranov--Bernoulli system for translationally symmetric equilibria with anisotropic electron pressure and kinetic effects owing to the presence of energetic particles using the PCS.

physics.plasm-ph

Energy-Casimir, dynamically accessible, and Lagrangian stability of extended magnetohydrodynamic equilibria

The formal stability analysis of Eulerian extended magnetohydrodynamics (XMHD) equilibria is considered within the noncanonical Hamiltonian framework by means of the energy-Casimir variational principle and the dynamically accessible stability method. Specifically, we find explicit sufficient stability conditions for axisymmetric XMHD and Hall MHD (HMHD) equilibria with toroidal flow and for equilibria with arbitrary flow under constrained perturbations. The dynamically accessible, second-order variation of the Hamiltonian, which can potentially provide explicit stability criteria for generic equilibria, is also obtained. Moreover, we examine the Lagrangian stability of the general quasineutral two-fluid model written in terms of MHD-like variables, by finding the action and the Hamiltonian functionals of the linearized dynamics, working within a mixed Lagrangian-Eulerian framework. Upon neglecting electron mass, we derive a HMHD energy principle, and in addition, the perturbed induction equation arises from Hamilton's equations of motion in view of a consistency condition for the relation between the perturbed magnetic potential and the canonical variables.

physics.plasm-ph

A tokamak pertinent analytic equilibrium with plasma flow of arbitrary direction

An analytic solution to a generalized Grad-Shafranov equation with flow of arbitrary direction is obtained upon adopting the generic linearizing ansatz for the free functions related to the poloidal current, the static pressure and the electric field. Subsequently, a D-shaped tokamak pertinent equilibrium with sheared flow is constructed using the aforementioned solution.

physics.plasm-ph

A discrete Nambu bracket for 2D extended Magnetohydrodynamics

In this note we propose a trilinear bracket formulation for the Hamiltonian extended Magnetohydrodynamics (XMHD) model with homogeneous mass density. The corresponding two-dimensional representation is derived by performing spatial reduction on the three-dimensional bracket, upon introducing a symmetric representation for the field variables. Subsequently, the trilinear bracket of the resulting two-dimensional, four-field model is discretized using a finite difference scheme, which results in semi-discrete dynamics that involve the Arakawa Jacobian. Simulations of planar dynamics show that this scheme respects the desired conservation properties to high precision.

physics.plasm-ph

2D magnetofluid models constructed by a priori imposition of conservation laws

Motivated by a geometric method employed for the derivation of the Nambu bracket for ideal two-dimensional incompressible hydrodynamics, we reconstruct the reduced magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) model by a priori imposition of its conservation laws. It turns out that there exists a more general model that conserves the same quantities with RMHD. The noncanonical Hamiltonian and Nambu description of this generic system are derived and in addition a canonical description is formed by Clebsch-parameterizing the vorticity and the magnetic flux function. The method for the construction of the dynamical equations is based on the imposition of the conservation laws as orthogonality conditions. Furthermore, this approach enabled us to construct three families of models that respect any combination of two out of the three conservation laws. Some of these models can serve as conservative regularizations of RMHD since under certain conditions they keep the enstrophy bounded without the need of introducing viscosity and may be candidates for incorporating small length scale physics into the RMHD framework.

physics.plasm-ph

Ellipticity conditions for the extended MHD Grad-Shafranov-Bernoulli equilibrium equations

In this study, we find the points of transition between elliptic and hyperbolic regimes for the axisymmetric extended magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium equations. The ellipticity condition is expressed via a single inequality but is more involved than the corresponding two-fluid ones due to the imposition of the quasineutrality condition and is also more complicated than the Hall MHD ellipticity condition, due to electron inertia. In fact, the inclusion of electron inertia is responsible for peculiar results; namely, even the static equilibrium equations can become hyperbolic.

physics.plasm-ph

Certain developments on the equilibrium of magnetized plasmas

Recent results will be presented on steady states of magnetically confined plasmas obtained by conventional and Hamiltonian methods. The presentation consists of three parts. The first one concerns the derivation of a generalized Grad-Shafranov equation describing helically symmetric equilibria with pressure anisotropy and incompressible plasma flow of arbitrary direction with application to straight-stellarator configurations [1]. The impact of pressure anisotropy and flow on the equilibrium characteristics is also examined. In the second part the axisymmetric equilibrium code HELENA is extended for pressure anisotropy and flow parallel to the magnetic field and ITER-pertinent equilibria are constructed. In the third part the Hamiltonian formulation of helically symmetric plasmas is established within the framework of extended MHD, a simplified two-fluid model including Hall-ion and electron-inertia contributions [2,3]. Four families of Casimir invariants are obtained and they are used to construct Energy-Casimir variational principles for deriving generalized extended MHD equilibrium equations with arbitrary flow. The system is then cast into the form of Grad-Shafranov-Bernoulli equations. In addition, an example of an incompressible double-Beltrami equilibrium will be presented in connection with a straight-stellarator configuration.

physics.plasm-ph