arXiv subjects

F. Sattin

Publications and source records attributed to F. Sattin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Geometric investigation of chaos unfolding in Hamiltonian systems

In this work we revisit the geometric approach to chaos in Hamiltonian dynamics, by means of the Jacobi-Levi-Civita equation (JLCE). We inspect numerically two low-dimensional dynamical systems; show that, along chaotic orbits, the exponential divergence between nearby trajectories quantified by the JLCE does not unfold in a continuous manner, rather is closer to a multiplicative discrete process: in correspondence of each turning point, where the trajectory bounces away from the boundary of the energetically allowed region, the relative separation increases sharply and abruptly. We highlight through analytical and numerical arguments that the chaotic rather than regular nature of the trajectory is determined by the details of the scattering with the boundary, and interpret these results in terms of parametric resonance theory, and specifically the Mathieu equation.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2025

About diffusion equations in bounded systems

Differential equations need boundary conditions (BC's) for their solution. It is commonly acknowledged that differential equations and BC's are representative of independent physical processes, and no correlations between them is required. Two recent papers [D. Hilhorst, et al, Nonlinear Analysis, 245, 113561 (2024); J-W.Chung, et al, Jour. Math. Phys. 65, 071501 (2024)] focus on diffusion equations (DE's) in a case with continuity of the physics at the boundary, where transport coefficients go smoothly to zero in a very small layer about it. They argue that, once the analytical expression of the DE is chosen, only one kind of BC's may emerge (e.g., Neumann rather than Dirichlet). In this paper, we show that this case is very peculiar. Indeed, DE's generally arise as long-wavelength limit out of a stochastic picture of microscopic dynamics, in the form of an integro-differential Master Equation (ME). Accordingly, they are justified only on a statistical basis, provide accurate pictures of the system's evolution only over large enough length and time scales. In realistic cases, the width of the interface between the interior and exterior of the system is much smaller than transport scales, providing effectively a discontinuity and therefore a decorrelation between DE and BC.

math-ph↗

arXiv2023

Modelling of impurity heating during reconnections in a Reverse Field Pinch device as due to parallel electric field acceleration and chaos-induced thermalization

The ion temperature during magnetic reconnections measured along the direction of the magnetic field at the MST Reverse Field Pinch has not yet received a satisfactory theoretical explanation. In this work we argue that it is consistent with a picture of ion energization by the parallel electric fields generated by the plasma during reconnection, and thermalization due to the chaotic ion dynamics. Three possible sources of randomness are pointed out: particle motion along static stochastic magnetic field lines, breakup of the adiabatic ion dynamics caused by the strong gradient nonlinearity of the magnetic field, parallel acceleration along stochastic time-dependent electric fields. The three mechanisms are likely operative simultaneously; regardless the specific mechanism active, the correct scaling laws with ion parameters are recovered. Furthermore, we argue that quantitative agreement can be obtained by feeding the model with realistic values for the plasma conditions.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Revisiting the Toda-Brumer-Duff criterion for order-chaos transition in dynamical systems

TThe Toda-Brumer-Duff (TBD) is an analytical criterion for estimating the local exponential rate of divergence between nearby trajectories in dynamical systems, and it is employed as a test for assessing the existence of chaos therein. It is fairly simple, intuitive, and works well in several situations, hence gained quite a wide popularity, yet it is known to be not rigorous since predicts ``false positives'', i.e., flags as chaotic systems that are instead regular. We revisit here the TBD criterion in order to understand the causes of its failures, and pinpoint that the problem with it is due to two reasons: (a) the TBD criterion does not constrain the trajectories to lie on the same energy hypersurface; (b) it does not distinguish between the divergence of trajectories along or perpendicularly to the direction of the flow, the former being irrelevant for assessing the presence of chaos. We show how both points can be incorporated within the TBD framework, yielding an amended criterion which, when applied to some reference cases, interprets correctly the kind of dynamics observed.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2023

Thresholdless stochastic particle heating by a single wave

Stochastic heating is a well-known mechanism through which magnetized particles may be energized by low-frequency electromagnetic waves. In its simplest version, under spatially homogeneous conditions, it is known to be operative only above a threshold in the normalized wave amplitude, which may be a demanding requisite in actual scenarios, severely restricting its range of applicability. In this work we show, by numerical simulations supported by inspection of the particle Hamiltonian, that allowing for even a very weak spatial inhomogeneity completely removes the threshold, trading the requirement upon the wave amplitude with a requisite upon the duration of the interaction between wave and particle. The thresholdless chaotic mechanism considered here is likely to be applicable to other inhomogeneous systems.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Superstatistics and temperature fluctuations

Superstatistics [C. Beck and E.G.D. Cohen, Physica A 322, 267 (2003)] is a formalism aimed at describing statistical properties of a generic extensive quantity E in complex out-of-equilibrium systems in terms of a superposition of equilibrium canonical distributions weighted by a function P(beta) of the intensive thermodynamic quantity beta conjugate to E. It is commonly assumed that P(beta) is determined by the spatiotemporal dynamics of the system under consideration. In this work we show by examples that, in some cases fulfilling all the conditions for the superstatistics formalism to be applicable, P(beta) is actually affected also by the way the measurement of E is performed, and thus is not an intrinsic property of the system.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Skewed distributions as limits of a formal evolutionary process

Time series of observables measured from complex systems do often exhibit non-normal statistics, their statistical distributions (PDF's) are not gaussian and often skewed, with roughly exponential tails. Departure from gaussianity is related to the intermittent development of large-scale coherent structures. The existence of these structures is rooted into the nonlinear dynamical equations obeyed by each system, therefore it is expected that some prior knowledge or guessing of these equations is needed if one wishes to infer the corresponding PDF; conversely, the empirical knowledge of the PDF does provide information about the underlying dynamics. In this work we suggest that it is not always necessary. We show how, under some assumptions, a formal evolution equation for the PDF $p(x)$ can be written down, corresponding to the progressive accumulation of measurements of the generic observable $x$. The limiting solution to this equation is computed analytically, and shown to interpolate between some of the most common distributions, Gamma, Beta and Gaussian PDF's. The control parameter is just the ratio between the rms of the fluctuations and the range of allowed values. Thus, no information about the dynamics is required.

physics.data-an↗

arXiv2016

Diffusive Limits of the Master Equation in Inhomogeneous Media

Diffusion is the macroscopic manifestation of disordered molecular motion. Mathematically, diffusion equations are partial differential equations describing the fluid-like large-scale dynamics of parcels of molecules. Spatially inhomogeneous systems affect in a position-dependent way the average motion of molecules; thus, diffusion equations have to reflect somehow this fact within their structure. It is known since long that in this case an ambiguity arises: there are several ways of writing down diffusion equations containing space dependence within their parameters. These ways are all potentially valid but not equivalent, meaning that the different diffusion equations yield different solutions for the same data. The ambiguity can only be resolved at the microscopic level: a model for the stochastic dynamics of the individual molecules must be provided, and a well-defined diffusion equation then arises as the long-wavelength limit of this dynamics. In this work we introduce and employ the integro-differential Master Equation (ME) as a tool for describing the microscopic dynamics. We show that is possible to provide a parameterized version of the ME, in terms of a single numerical parameter (alpha), such that the different expressions for the diffusive fluxes are recovered at different values of alpha. This work aims to fill a gap in the literature, where the ME was shown to deliver just one diffusive limit. In the second part of the paper some numerical computer models are introduced, both to support analytical considerations, and to extend the scope of the ME to more sophisticated scenarios, beyond the simplest alpha-parameterization.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2016

A unified model of density limit in fusion plasmas

A limit for the edge density, ruled by radiation losses from light impurities, is established by a minimal cylindrical magneto-thermal equilibrium model. For ohmic tokamak and reversed field pinch the limit scales linearly with the plasma current, as the empirical Greenwald limit. The auxiliary heating adds a further dependence, scaling with the 0.4 power, in agreement with L-mode tokamak experiments. For a purely externally heated configuration the limit takes on a Sudo-like form, depending mainly on the input power, and is compatible with recent Stellarator scalings.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2014

Alfvenic propagation: a key to nonlocal effects in magnetized plasmas

A long standing puzzle in fusion research comes from experiments where a sudden peripheral electron temperature perturbation is accompanied by an almost simultaneous opposite change in central temperature, in a way incompatible with local transport models. This paper shows these experiments and similar ones are fairly well quantitatively reproduced, when induction effects are incorporated in the total plasma response, alongside standard local diffusive transport, as suggested in earlier work [V.D. Pustovitov, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion {\bf 54}, 124036 (2012)].

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2014

Perturbative transport experiments: to what extent do they really probe microscopic transport?

Experiments featuring fast heat propagation, or so called "non-local" transport, were a puzzle for almost two decades. However recently it was shown, and it is recalled here, that a collective ideal MHD response of the plasma provides a quantitative agreement with these experiments, whereas transport plays just a secondary role. Then this work reviews the algebraic approach to transport data inversion that provides a formally exact solution, as well as a quantitative assessment of error bars, limited to periodic signals. Conversely, standard transport reconstructions are shown to sometimes fail to match the exact solution. The adoption of automated global search algorithms based upon Genetic Algorithms is bound to greatly increase the probability of finding optimal solutions. Finally, the standard methods of reconstruction infer the diffusivity D and pinch V by matching experimental data against those simulated by transport codes. These methods do not warrant the validity neither of the underlying models of transport, nor of the reconstructed D(r) and V(r), even when the results look reasonable.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2013

On the linear stability of collisionless microtearing modes

Microtearing modes are an important drive of turbulent heat transport in present-day fusion plasmas. We investigate their linear stability under very-low collisionality regimes, expected for the next generations of devices, using gyrokinetic and drift-kinetic approaches. At odds with current opinion, we show that collisionless microtearing instabilities may occur in certain experimental conditions, particularly relevant for such devices as reversed field pinches and spherical tokamaks.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2012

Estimate of convection-diffusion coefficients from modulated perturbative experiments as an inverse problem

The estimate of coefficients of the Convection-Diffusion Equation (CDE) from experimental measurements belongs in the category of inverse problems, which are known to come with issues of ill-conditioning or singularity. Here we concentrate on a particular class that can be reduced to a linear algebraic problem, with explicit solution. Ill-conditioning of the problem corresponds to the vanishing of one eigenvalue of the matrix to be inverted. The comparison with algorithms based upon matching experimental data against numerical integration of the CDE sheds light on the accuracy of the parameter estimation procedures, and suggests a path for a more precise assessment of the profiles and of the related uncertainty. Several instances of the implementation of the algorithm to real data are presented.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2012

Calculation of transport coefficient profiles in modulation experiments as an inverse problem

The calculation of transport profiles from experimental measurements belongs in the category of inverse problems which are known to come with issues of ill-conditioning or singularity. A reformulation of the calculation, the matricial approach, is proposed for periodically modulated experiments, within the context of the standard advection-diffusion model where these issues are related to the vanishing of the determinant of a 2x2 matrix. This sheds light on the accuracy of calculations with transport codes, and provides a path for a more precise assessment of the profiles and of the related uncertainty.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2010

Microtearing Modes in Reversed Field Pinch Plasmas

In the reversed field pinch RFX-mod strong electron temperature gradients develop when the Single-Helical-Axis regime is achieved. Gyrokinetic calculations show that in the region of the strong temperature gradients microtearing instabilities are the dominant turbulent mechanism acting on the ion Larmor radius scale. The quasi-linear evaluation of the electron thermal conductivity is in good agreement with the experimental estimates.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2010

Study of ITG modes in RFX-mod using TRB code

We present here a study about the stability of Ion-Temperature-Gradient drift turbulence in the Quasi-Single-Helicity regime of RFX-mod Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) using the TRB fluid electrostatic turbulence code. Our results suggest that present-days RFP plasmas are marginally stable against this kind of turbulence. The onset of the instability may be envisaged for close future regimes, in the presence of hotter plasmas with sharper internal transport barriers.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2009

An Explanation From First-Principle Equations For The Universality of Non-Gaussian Distributions in Edge Plasma Fluctuations

Probability Distributions Functions (PDFs) of fluctuations of plasma edge parameters are skewed curves fairly different from normal distributions, whose shape appears almost independent of the plasma conditions and devices. We start from a minimal fluid model of edge turbulence and reformulate it in terms of uncoupled Langevin equations, admiting analytical solution for the PDFs of all the fields involved. We show that the supposed peculiarities of PDFs, and their universal character, are related to the generic properties of Langevin equations involving quadratic nonlinearities.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2009

About the parabolic relation existing between the skewness and the kurtosis in time series of experimental data

In this work we investigate the origin of the parabolic relation between skewness and kurtosis often encountered in the analysis of experimental time-series. We argue that the numerical values of the coefficients of the curve may provide informations about the specific physics of the system studied, whereas the analytical curve per se is a fairly general consequence of a few constraints expected to hold for most systems.

physics.data-an↗