Turbulent field fluctuations in gyrokinetic and fluid plasmas

A key uncertainty in the design and development of magnetic confinement fusion energy reactors is predicting edge plasma turbulence. An essential step in overcoming this uncertainty is the validation in accuracy of reduced turbulent transport models. Drift-reduced Braginskii two-fluid theory is one such set of reduced equations that has for decades simulated boundary plasmas in experiment, but significant questions exist regarding its predictive ability. To this end, using a novel physics-informed deep learning framework, we demonstrate the first ever direct quantitative comparisons of turbulent field fluctuations between electrostatic two-fluid theory and electromagnetic gyrokinetic modeling with good overall agreement found in magnetized helical plasmas at low normalized pressure. This framework presents a new technique for the numerical validation and discovery of reduced global plasma turbulence models.(c) 2021 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study compared turbulent field fluctuations between electrostatic two-fluid theory and electromagnetic gyrokinetic modeling using a novel physics-informed deep learning framework, finding good overall agreement in magnetized helical plasmas at low normalized pressure. This technique presents a new approach for the numerical validation and discovery of reduced global plasma turbulence models.