arXiv subjects

Johan Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to Johan Anderson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Elucidating plasma dynamics in Hasegawa-Wakatani turbulence by information geometry

The impact of adiabatic electrons on drift-wave turbulence, modelled by the Hasegawa-Wakatani equations, is studied using information length. Information length is a novel theoretical method for measuring distances between statistical states represented by different probability distribution functions (PDFs) along the path of a system. Specifically, the time-dependent PDFs of turbulent fluctuations for a given adiabatic index $A$ is computed. The changes in fluctuation statistics are then quantified in time by using information length. The numerical results provide time traces exhibiting intermittent plasma dynamics, and such behaviour is identified by a rapid change in the information length. The effects of $A$ are discussed.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Global scaling of the heat transport in fusion plasmas

A global heat flux model based on a fractional derivative of plasma pressure is proposed for the heat transport in fusion plasmas. The degree of the fractional derivative of the heat flux, $\alpha$, is defined through the power balance analysis of the steady state. The model was used to obtain the experimental values of $\alpha$ for a large database of the JET Carbon-wall as well as ITER Like-wall plasmas. The findings show that the average fractional degree of the heat flux over the database for electrons is $\alpha \sim 0.8$, suggesting a global scaling between the net heating and the pressure profile in the JET plasmas. The model is expected to provide an accurate and a simple description of heat transport that can be used in transport studies of fusion plasmas.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Non-Linear Langevin and Fractional Fokker-Planck Equations for Anomalous Diffusion by Levy Stable Processes

The~numerical solutions to a non-linear Fractional Fokker--Planck (FFP) equation are studied estimating the generalized diffusion coefficients. The~aim is to model anomalous diffusion using an FFP description with fractional velocity derivatives and Langevin dynamics where L\'{e}vy fluctuations are introduced to model the effect of non-local transport due to fractional diffusion in velocity space. Distribution functions are found using numerical means for varying degrees of fractionality of the stable L\'{e}vy distribution as solutions to the FFP equation. The~statistical properties of the distribution functions are assessed by a generalized normalized expectation measure and entropy and modified transport coefficient. The~transport coefficient significantly increases with decreasing fractality which is corroborated by analysis of experimental data.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2017

Self-organisation of random oscillators with L\'evy stable distributions

A novel possibility of self-organized behaviour of stochastically driven oscillators is presented. It is shown that synchronization by L\'evy stable processes is significantly more efficient than that by oscillators with Gaussian statistics. The impact of outlier events from the tail of the distribution function was examined by artificially introducing a few additional oscillators with very strong coupling strengths and it is found that remarkably even one such rare and extreme event may govern the long term behaviour of the coupled system. In addition to the multiplicative noise component, we have investigated the impact of an external additive L\'evy distributed noise component on the synchronisation properties of the oscillators.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2017

Statistical analysis of Hasegawa - Wakatani turbulence

Resistive drift wave turbulence is a multipurpose paradigm that can be used to understand transport at the edge of fusion devices. The Hasegawa-Wakatani model captures the essential physics of drift turbulence while retaining the simplicity needed to gain a qualitative understanding of this process. We provide a theoretical interpretation of numerically generated probability density functions (PDFs) of intermittent events in Hasegawa-Wakatani turbulence with enforced equipartition of energy in large scale zonal flows and small scale drift turbulence. We find that for a wide range of adiabatic index values the stochastic component representing the small scale turbulent eddies of the flow, obtained from the ARIMA model, exhibits super-diffusive statistics, consistent with intermittent transport. The PDFs of large events (above one standard deviation) are well approximated by the Laplace distribution, while small events often exhibit a Gaussian character. Furthermore there exist a strong influence of zonal flows for example, via shearing and then viscous dissipation maintaining a sub-diffusive character of the fluxes.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

Charged particle dynamics in the presence of non-Gaussian L\'evy electrostatic fluctuations

Full orbit dynamics of charged particles in a $3$-dimensional helical magnetic field in the presence of $\alpha$-stable L\'evy electrostatic fluctuations and linear friction modeling collisional Coulomb drag is studied via Monte Carlo numerical simulations. The L\'evy fluctuations are introduced to model the effect of non-local transport due to fractional diffusion in velocity space resulting from intermittent electrostatic turbulence. The probability distribution functions of energy, particle displacements, and Larmor radii are computed and showed to exhibit a transition from exponential decay, in the case of Gaussian fluctuations, to power law decay in the case of L\'evy fluctuations. The absolute value of the power law decay exponents are linearly proportional to the L\'evy index $\alpha$. The observed anomalous non-Gaussian statistics of the particles' Larmor radii (resulting from outlier transport events) indicate that, when electrostatic turbulent fluctuations exhibit non-Gaussian L\'evy statistics, gyro-averaging and guiding centre approximations might face limitations and full particle orbit effects should be taken into account.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

Phase dependent advection-diffusion in drift wave - zonal flow turbulence

In plasma turbulence theory, due to the complexity of the system with many non-linearly interacting waves, the dynamics of the phases is often disregarded and the so-called random-phase approximation (RPA) is used assuming the existence of a Chirikov-like criterion for the onset of wave stochasticity. The dynamical amplitudes are represented as complex numbers, $\psi = \psi_r + i\psi_i = ae^{i\theta}$, with the amplitudes slowly varying whereas the phases are rapidly varying and, in particular, distributed uniformly over the interval $[0;2\pi)$. However, one could expect that the phase dynamics can play a role in the self-organisation and the formation of coherent structures. In the same manner it is also expected that the RPA falls short to take coherent interaction between phases into account. In this work therefore, we studied the role of phase dynamics and the coupling of phases between different modes on the characteristic time evolution of the turbulent. We assume a simple turbulent system where the so-called stochastic oscillator model can be employed. The idea of interpreting turbulence by stochastic oscillators. The stochastic oscillator models can be derived from radical simplifications of the nonlinear terms in the Navier-Stokes or Gyro-Kinetic equations. In this particular case we adopt the basic equation for the stochastic oscillator model with passive advection and random forcing from Ref.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

The role of phase dynamics in a stochastic model of a passively advected scalar

Collective synchronous motion of the phases is introduced in a model for the stochastic passive advection-diffusion of a scalar with external forcing. The model for the phase coupling dynamics follows the well known Kuramoto model paradigm of limit-cycle oscillators. The natural frequencies in the Kuramoto model are assumed to obey a given scale dependence through a dispersion relation of the drift-wave form $-\beta\frac{k}{1+k^2}$, where $\beta$ is a constant representing the typical strength of the gradient. The present aim is to study the importance of collective phase dynamics on the characteristic time evolution of the fluctuation energy and the formation of coherent structures. Our results show that the assumption of a fully stochastic phase state of turbulence is more relevant for high values of $\beta$, where we find that the energy spectrum follows a $k^{-7/2}$ scaling. Whereas for lower $\beta$ there is a significant difference between a-synchronised and synchronised phase states, and one could expect the formation of coherent modulations in the latter case.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2015

Predator-prey model for the self-organisation of stochastic oscillators in dual populations

A predator-prey model of dual populations with stochastic oscillators is presented. A linear cross-coupling between the two populations is introduced following the coupling between the motions of a Wilberforce pendulum in two dimensions: one in the longitudinal and the other in torsional plain. Within each population a Kuramoto type competition between the phases is assumed. Thus, the synchronisation state of the whole system is controlled by these two types of competitions. The results of the numerical simulations show that by adding the linear cross-coupling interactions predator-prey oscillations between the two populations appear which results in self-regulation of the system by a transfer of synchrony between the two populations. The model represents several important features of the dynamical interplay between the drift wave and zonal flow turbulence in magnetically confined plasmas, and a novel interpretation of the coupled dynamics of drift wave-zonal flow turbulence using synchronisation of stochastic oscillator is discussed.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2015

Statistical properties of Charney-Hasegawa-Mima zonal flows

A theoretical interpretation of numerically generated probability density functions (PDFs) of intermittent plasma transport events in unforced zonal flows is provided within the Charney-Hasegawa-Mima (CHM) model. The governing equation is solved numerically with various prescribed density gradients that are designed to produce different configurations of parallel and anti-parallel streams. Long-lasting vortices form whose flow is governed by the zonal streams. It is found that the numerically generated PDFs can be matched with analytical predictions of PDFs based on the instanton method by removing the autocorrelations from the time series. In many instances the statistics generated by the CHM dynamics relaxes to Gaussian distributions for both the electrostatic and vorticity perturbations, whereas in areas with strong nonlinear interactions it is found that the PDFs are exponentially distributed.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2014

Effects of the Second Harmonic and Plasma Shaping on the Geodesic Acoustic Mode

The effects of second harmonics of the density and temperature perturbations on the linear Geodesic Acoustic Mode (GAM) frequency and non-linear generation of the GAM are investigated, using a fluid model. We show that the second harmonics contribute to the frequency through the density gradient scale length and the wave number of the GAM. In addition, the linear frequency of the GAM is generally increased by coupling to the higher harmonic.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2014

Effects of the Second Harmonic on the GAM in Electron Scale Turbulence

The effects higher order harmonics have been self-consistently included in the derivation of the electron branch of the electron Geodesic Acoustic Mode (el-GAM) in an Electron-Temperature-Gradient (ETG) turbulence background. The work is based on a two-fluid model including finite $\beta$-effects while retaining non-adiabatic ions. In solving the linear dispersion relation, it is found that the due to the coupling to the $m=2$ mode the real frequency may be significantly altered and yield higher values.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2014

A Fractional Fokker-Planck Model for Anomalous Diffusion

In this paper we present a study of anomalous diffusion using a Fokker-Planck description with fractional velocity derivatives. The distribution functions are found using numerical means for varying degree of fractionality observing the transition from a Gaussian distribution to a L\'evy distribution. The statistical properties of the distribution functions are assessed by a generalized expectation measure and entropy in terms of Tsallis statistical mechanics. We find that the ratio of the generalized entropy and expectation is increasing with decreasing fractionality towards the well known so-called sub-diffusive domain, indicating a self-organising behavior.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2013

Effects of the equilibrium model on impurity transport in tokamaks

Gyrokinetic simulations of ion temperature gradient mode and trapped electron mode driven impurity transport in a realistic tokamak geometry are presented and compared with results using simplified geometries. The gyrokinetic results, obtained with the GENE code in both linear and non-linear modes are compared with data and analysis for a dedicated impurity injection discharge at JET. The impact of several factors on heat and particle transport is discussed, lending special focus to tokamak geometry and rotational shear. To this end, results using s-alpha and concentric circular equilibria are compared with results with magnetic geometry from a JET experiment. To further approach experimental conditions, non-linear gyrokinetic simulations are performed with collisions and a carbon background included. The impurity peaking factors, computed by finding local density gradients corresponding to zero particle flux, are discussed. The impurity peaking factors are seen to be reduced by a factor of ~2 in realistic geometry compared with the simplified geometries, due to a reduction of the convective pinch. It is also seen that collisions reduce the peaking factor for low-Z impurities, while increasing it for high charge numbers, which is attributed to a shift in the transport spectra towards higher wavenumbers with the addition of collisions. With the addition of roto-diffusion, an overall reduction of the peaking factors is observed, but this decrease is not sufficient to explain the flat carbon profiles seen at JET.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2013

High Frequency Geodesic Acoustic Modes in Electron Scale Turbulence

In this work the finite $\beta$-effects of an electron branch of the geodesic acoustic mode (el-GAM) driven by electron temperature gradient (ETG) modes is presented. The work is based on a fluid description of the ETG mode retaining non-adiabatic ions and the dispersion relation for el-GAMs driven non-linearly by ETG modes is derived. The ETG growth rate from the fluid model is compared to the results found from gyrokinetic simulations with good agreement. A new saturation mechanism for ETG turbulence through the interaction with el-GAMs is found, resulting in a significantly enhanced ETG turbulence saturation level compared to the mixing length estimate. It is shown that the el-GAM may be stabilized by an increase in finite $\beta$ as well as by increasing non-adiabaticity. The decreased GAM growth rates is due to the inclusion of the Maxwell stress.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2012

Two-point theory for the differential self-interrogation Feynman-alpha method

A Feynman-alpha formula has been derived in a two region domain pertaining the stochastic differential self-interrogation (DDSI) method and the differential die-away method (DDAA). Monte Carlo simulations have been used to assess the applicability of the variance to mean through determination of the physical reaction intensities of the physical processes in the two domains. More specifically, the branching processes of the neutrons in the two regions are described by the Chapman - Kolmogorov equation, including all reaction intensities for the various processes, that is used to derive a variance to mean relation for the process. The applicability of the Feynman-alpha or variance to mean formulae are assessed in DDSI and DDAA of spent fuel configurations.

math-ph↗

arXiv2012

High Frequency Geodesic Acoustic Modes in Electron Temperature Gradient Mode Turbulence

In this work the first demonstration of a high frequency branch of the geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) driven by electron temperature gradient (ETG) modes is presented. The work is based on a fluid description of the ETG mode retaining non-adiabatic ions and the dispersion relation for high frequency GAMs driven nonlinearly by ETG modes is derived. A new saturation mechanism for ETG turbulence through the interaction with high frequency GAMs is found, resulting in a significantly enhanced ETG turbulence saturation level compared to the mixing length estimate.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2012

Non-local gyrokinetic model of linear ion-temperature-gradient modes

A theory of non-local linear ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) drift modes while retaining non-adiabatic electrons is presented, extending the previous work [S. Moradi, et al {\em Phys. Plasmas} {\bf 18}, 062106 (2011)]. A dispersion relation is derived to quantify the effects of the fractional velocity operator in the Fokker-Planck equation modified by temperature gradients and non-adiabatic electrons on the real frequency and growth rate. Solving the dispersion relation, it is shown here that as the plasma becomes more turbulent, it deviates from a Maxwellian distribution and becomes L\'{e}vy distributed. The resulting L\'{e}vy distribution of the plasma may thus significantly alter the transport. The relative effect of the fractional derivative is larger on the real frequency than on the growth rate of the ITG mode.

physics.plasm-ph↗