Gyrokinetic particle simulation of neoclassical transport in the pedestal/scrape-off region of a tokamak plasma

Abstract

A gyrokinetic neoclassical solution for a diverted tokamak edge plasma has beenobtained for the first time using the massively parallel Jaguar XT3 computer at Oak Ridge NationalLaboratory. The solutions show similar characteristics to the experimental observations: electricpotential is positive in the scrape-off layer and negative in the H-mode layer, and the parallelrotation is positive in the scrape-off layer and at the inside boundary of the H-mode layer.However, the solution also makes a new physical discovery that there is a strong ExB convectiveflow in the scrape-off plasma. A general introduction to the edge simulation problem is alsopresented.