Highlights

The following describe research highlights of the Theory Department.

Past

• Parity-Time Symmetry Breaking Triggers Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities
  Hong Qin, slides
  [#s1332, 28 Jul 2021]
• A Theory on how to build good simulation codes for fusion plasmas
  Hong Qin, slides
  [#s1333, 28 Jul 2021]
• Permanent Magnets Can be Used to Simplify Stellarators
  Per Helander, slides
  [#s1162, 07 Aug 2020]
• Balancing the Macroscopic Pressure and Magnetic Force in Stellarators
  Stuart Hudson, Sophia Henneberg, Per Helander, slides
  [#s1161, 04 Aug 2020]
• Explosive Disruptions of the Magnetosphere Lead to Substorms
  Sam Totorica, Amitava Bhattacharjee, slides
  [#s1152, 02 Aug 2020]
• Dancing Magnetic Field Lines in Simulations of the Edge of Fusion Devices
  Greg Hammett, slides
  [#s1160, 02 Aug 2020]
• Efficient Simulations of Energetic Ion Relaxation in Burning Plasmas
  Nikolai Gorelenkov, slides
  [#s1166, 02 Aug 2020]
• A Revolutionary Model of the Dynamic Magnetic Field that Surrounds Mercury
  Chuanfei Dong, Amitava Bhattacharjee, slides
  [#s1144, 31 Jul 2020]
• Fixing Ray Optics for Wave Simulations
  Nicolas Lopez, Ilya Dodin, slides
  [#s1153, 31 Jul 2020]
• Unraveling the Physical Mechanism of Explosive Events in the Sun
  Yi-Min Huang, slides
  [#s1156, 31 Jul 2020]
• Understanding Turbulence in Earth’s Atmosphere Helps Unlock Mechanisms of Magnetic Field Generation Inside the Sun
  Valentin Skoutnev, slides
  [#s1159, 31 Jul 2020]
• Stabilizing Fusion Plasmas with Radio Frequency Waves
  Allan Reiman, Nat Fisch, slides
  [#s1163, 31 Jul 2020]
• Moving fusion research into the big-and-fast data lane
  Ralph Kube, Michael Churchill and C.S. Chang, slides
  [#s1141, 29 Jul 2020]
• Understanding Plasma Rotation When Turbulence and Magnetic Ripples are at Odds
  Timothy Stoltzfus-Dueck, slides
  [#s1142, 29 Jul 2020]
• Nonlinear Wave Interactions Lead to Damaging Bursts of Energy at the Edge of Tokamaks
  Julien Dominski, Ahmed Diallo, slides
  [#s1134, 01 Apr 2020]
• Electrical Current Generation by Turbulence Can Affect Plasma Confinement in Future Fusion Reactors
  Weixing Wang, slides
  [#s1133, 31 Mar 2020]
• The Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Instabilities Determine the Onset of Turbulence in Fusion Plasmas
  Hongxuan Zhu, Yao Zhou, Ilya Dodin, slides
  [#s1132, 18 Mar 2020]
• XGC-M3Dc1 coupled extreme-scale simulations explain RMP-driven edge transport in realistic DIII-D edge plasma
  Robert Hager, C.S. Chang, Nate Ferraro and Raffi Nazikian, slides
  [#s1143, 01 Jan 2020]
• Physics-Constrained Neural Networks for Expensive Fokker-Planck Solvers - A SciDAC FASTMath and HBPS Success!
  Andreas Miller, Michael Churchill and C.S. Chang (PPPL); Alp Dener, Todd Munson (ANL), slides
  [#s1154, 01 Jan 2020]
• Established capability for near-real time networked analysis of big KSTAR data at NERSC
  Michael Churchill, Ralph Kube and C.S. Chang , slides
  [#s1155, 01 Jan 2020]
• Improved Equation-Free Method that Maximizes the Preservation of Microscale Properties
  Benjamin Sturdevant, C.S. Chang and Robert Hager (PPPL); Scott Parker (U. Colorado, Boulder), slides
  [#s1157, 01 Jan 2020]
• A New Particle Resampling Algorithm by ASCR Scientists is Enabling ITER-Critical Turbulence Simulations in Stochastic Magnetic Fields
  CS Chang and Robert Hager (PPPL); Varis Carey (U. Colorado, Denver), slides
  [#s1158, 01 Jan 2020]
• New Model Sheds Light on Key Physics of Magnetic Islands that Can Halt Fusion Reactions
  C-S. Chang, slides
  [#s793, 12 Jul 2018]
• Advanced Simulations Capture the Dynamics of Solar Flares, Northern Lights and Space Storms
  Ammar Hakim, slides
  [#s790, 09 Jul 2018]
• Auroras on the Moon? Which Moon?
  Liang Wang, slides
  [#s736, 28 May 2018]
• Higher Plasma Densities, More Efficient Tokamaks
  Qian Teng, slides
  [#s733, 21 May 2018]
• Fractals, Plasma Physics and Fusion
  Brian Kraus, slides
  [#s662, 20 Mar 2018]
• Nonlinear simulations of magnetically confined plasmas reveal a self-regulating stabilizing mechanism
  Isabel Krebs, slides
  [#s625, 09 Feb 2018]
• Magnetized plasmas that “twist light” can produce high-power microscopes, and more.
  Kenan Qu, slides
  [#s558, 11 Dec 2017]
• Predicting Magnetic Explosions: From Plasma Current Sheet Disruption to Fast Magnetic Reconnection
  Yi-Min Huang, slides
  [#s532, 06 Nov 2017]
• Are “Habitable” Exoplanets Really Habitable?
  Chuanfei Dong, slides
  [#s501, 10 Oct 2017]
• Zero tolerance in tokamaks: eliminating small instabilities before they become disruptions
  Dylan Brennan, slides
  [#s500, 09 Oct 2017]
• Spinning on its own: selecting the direction of intrinsic rotation
  Timothy Stoltzfus-Dueck, slides
  [#s441, 14 Aug 2017]
• A billion trillion “clashes” make a plasma: averaging over the micro to understand the macro
  David Pfefferlé, slides
  [#s307, 10 Aug 2017]
• Bringing Cosmic Shock Waves Down to Earth
  Derek Schaeffer, slides
  [#s430, 01 Jul 2017]
• Zonostrophic Instability and the Onset of the Dimits Shift
  John Krommes, slides
  [#s308, 01 May 2017]
• First high-fidelity computational demonstration of spontaneous transition to high-confinement plasma required by ITER
  C-S. Chang, slides
  [#s309, 01 Apr 2017]
• Understanding and avoiding disruptions that halt fusion reactions
  Nate Ferraro, slides
  [#s310, 01 Mar 2017]
• Magnetorotational Turbulence and Dynamo in a Collisionless Plasma
  Matthew Kunz, slides
  [#s311, 01 Feb 2017]
• Theory for high-intensity charged particle beams in strongly coupled focusing lattice
  Hong Qin, slides
  [#s312, 01 Jan 2017]
• General Theory of the Plasmoid Instability
  Luca Comisso, slides
  [#s313, 01 Dec 2016]
• Plasmoids formation in a laboratory and large-volume flux closure during simulations of Coaxial
  Fatima Ebrahimi, slides
  [#s314, 01 Nov 2016]
• Extending geometrical optics: A Lagrangian theory for vector waves
  Daniel Ruiz, slides
  [#s315, 01 Oct 2016]
• Understanding and Predicting Intrinsic Rotation in Fusion Plasmas
  Weixing Wang, slides
  [#s316, 01 Sep 2016]
• 3D Full Wave Simulation of Reflectometry in Toroidal Plasma
  Ernest Valeo, slides
  [#s317, 01 Sep 2016]
• Diagnostic Applications of Neutral Transport
  Daren Stotler, slides
  [#s318, 01 Aug 2016]
• A new hybrid-Lagrangian gyrokinetic scheme for tokamak edge plasmas
  Seung-Hoe Ku, slides
  [#s319, 01 Jul 2016]
• An accurate and scalable nonlinear multi-species Fokker-Planck operator solver
  Robert Hager, slides
  [#s320, 01 Jun 2016]
• Priority topics in energetic ion physics research
  Nikolai Gorelenkov, slides
  [#s321, 01 May 2016]
• Controlling plasma properties: electron induced secondary electron emission
  Igor Kaganovich, slides
  [#s338, 13 Apr 2016]
• Hamiltonian gyrokinetic Vlasov-Maxwell system
  Josh Burby, slides
  [#s322, 01 Apr 2016]
• Variational methods for modeling linear and nonlinear waves in fusion plasmas: fundamental physics and applications
  Ilya Dodin, slides
  [#s323, 01 Mar 2016]
• Sheath-induced instabilities in magnetized plasmas
  Igor Kaganovich, slides
  [#s337, 17 Feb 2016]
• Astrophysical Weibel instability in counter-streaming laser-driven plasmas
  Will Fox, slides
  [#s324, 01 Feb 2016]
• Accurate calculation of Singular Current Densities in non-linear, ideal MHD equilibrium solutions
  Stuart Hudson, slides
  [#s325, 01 Jan 2016]
• Complex Electron Energy Distribution in Asymmetric RF-DC Discharge
  Igor Kaganovich, slides
  [#s336, 15 Dec 2015]
• Strong Dependence of Intrinsic Rotation on X-Point Position
  Timothy Stoltzfus-Dueck, slides
  [#s326, 01 Dec 2015]
• Coupling of Neutral-beam-driven Compressional Alfvén Eigenmodes to Kinetic Alfvén Waves in NSTX and Energy Channelling
  Elena Belova, slides
  [#s327, 01 Nov 2015]
• Two-stream instability of an electron beam propagating in a bounded plasma
  Igor Kaganovich, slides
  [#s335, 14 Oct 2015]
• Self-organized Stationary States of Tokamaks
  Steve Jardin, slides
  [#s328, 01 Oct 2015]
• Benchmarking and Validation Initiative for Three-Dimensional Equilibrium Calculations
  Allan Reiman, slides
  [#s329, 01 Sep 2015]
• Riding an electron wave into the future of microchip
  Igor Kaganovich, slides
  [#s334, 15 Aug 2015]
• Tokamak MHD (TMHD) model for disruption studies
  Leonid Zakharov, slides
  [#s330, 01 Aug 2015]
• Critical Gradient Model for Fast Ion Profile Relaxation in Tokamaks
  Nikolai Gorelenkov, slides
  [#s331, 01 Jul 2015]
• Helping General Electric Upgrade the U.S. Power Grid
  Igor Kaganovich, slides
  [#s333, 15 Jun 2015]
• Turbulence-driven “anomalous bootstrap current" generation
  Weixing Wang, slides
  [#s332, 01 Jun 2015]