ENEA

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Plasma Physics in TOKAMAK
Collaborators: Dr G. Montani, Dr. F. Zonca

This line of research is central in the interests of ENEA and is devoted to investigate the features of a burning plasma in a Tokamak experiment. The main activity is concerned in describing the dynamics of plasma on the base of a gyrokinetic model in view of interpreting numerical simulations and issues of experiments (mainly in connection to the working of Frascati Update Tokamak (FTU). The precise aim of the collaboration in question is the study of the angular momentum transport within a Tokamak configuration and of the implications such transport has on the stability of the flow. Recent investigations have demonstrated that spontaneous rotation modes are excited in the form of poloidal laminar flows which suppress the the turbulence due to thermal gradients. The subsequent instability of such laminar flow, coming out as far as the energy of the rotation modes increases enough, induces a kind of “prey-predator” scheme on the Tokamak dynamics. The study of such dynamical regimes is of fundamental interest to understand how the stablishment of critical conditions for fusion is reached. A better characterization of such instability phenomena is a crucial towards the improvement of the Tokamak efficience and it will be focused on the in progress ITER experiment.