Transport and Structural Formation in Plasmas

This monograph, the latest in the IOP Plasma Physics Series, written by three of the most senior and internationally respected Japanese fusion scientists, presents a self-consistent picture of turbulent transport, structural formation and transitions-processes that are typical of the physics of many far from equilibrium systems such as exist in magnetically confined and inhomogeneous plasmas. The Author's view is that the plasma structure, fluctuations and turbulent transport are continually regulating each other and, in addition, that the structural formation and structural transition of plasmas are typical of the physics of far from equilibrium systems. The book presents and explains why the plasma inhomogeneity is the ordering parameter governing transport and how self-sustained fluctuations can be driven through subcritical excitation even beyond linear stability. In addition, the authors derive the non-linear gradient-flux relation with the result that asymmetry arising from the fluctuations allows mixing of the various kinds of fluxes. This emphasises the ever important role that electromagnetic fields play in inducing long range interactions, couplings and bifurcations in plasmas. To illustrate, a transport simulation of a high temperature current fusion experiment like JET-the Joint European Torus-helps us to understand various structural formations such as the H-mode. With the insight that structural formation in high temperature plasmas is fundamental to an accurate description of the basic phenomena that occur in our present cosmos, the authors provide a comprehensive account of the subject to help fusion researchers, fluid dynamicists and astrophysicists alike. The bookaddresses a key to understanding the age old question of what has occurred in the early stage of the our universe and what is likely to occur in the final stage of our universe.