The evidence for nonlocal transport in the Texas Experimental Tokamak

Abstract

The electron temperature response of a tokamak to rapid edge cooling has characteristics difficult to reconcile with local transport analysis. The initial observations in the Texas Experimental Tokamak [K. W. Gentle, Nucl. Tech. Fusion 1, 479 (1981)] have been extended to a wider range of plasma and perturbation parameters, including auxiliary heating, and the associated turbulence changes have been measured across the plasma radius. The fast edge temperature drops and core temperature increases are quantified by more extensive analysis. A perturbation complementary to edge cooling, edge heating by a fast current ramp, evokes a completely complementary plasma response.