Transport generated by current perturbations in Tokamak plasmas

• Grant number: 25/14658-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: January 20, 2026
• End date: December 19, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Physics of Fluids, Plasma Physics and Electrical Discharge
• Principal Investigator: Iberê Luiz Caldas
• Grantee: Lucas Nedeff Assub Amaral
• Supervisor: Marie-Christine Firpo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: École Polytechnique, France
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/15489-4 - Guiding centre orbits of particles in tokamaks, BP.DD

Abstract

One of the central problems in plasma physics is the loss of energy due to the escape of energetic particles in tokamaks. The characteristics of this escape are strongly influenced by the equilibrium configurations and by perturbations in the magnetic field and plasma current. These effects can be studied using Hamiltonian models for magnetic field lines, as carried out in the research project associated with the Domestic Scholarship, in which one such model is used to analyze transport in double-null divertor tokamaks. In the work of Marie-Christine Firpo, a new approach is proposed to investigate these phenomena, based on the joint analysis of Hamiltonian models for the magnetic field lines and for the current density field. In this context, an 11-month research stay at École Polytechnique is proposed, under the supervision of Prof. Firpo, with the aim of continuing this study, deepening the new formalism, further exploring the relationship between the fields, and investigating the transport characteristics in different configurations, in search of scenarios that favor confinement.