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2007
Monday, March 12, 2007 at 2:30 PM in MC 204
On the Mechanism of Heat Transport in a Magnetoplasma,
with Application to Fusion Reactors
L.C. Woods
Emeritus Professor of Mathematics
University of Oxford
Abstract:
The components of heat flux in a magnetic field, and the effect of shear in the electron fluid. Problems with the conduction of heat (Maxwell's error). Why Boltzmann's kinetic equation fails with terms second order in the Knudsen number. Second-order heat flux with (a) no magnetic field and (b) with a strong magnetic field. Why heat flux satisfies a backward diffusion equation in some cases (heat flowing up the temperature gradient).
Application to tokamaks. Why turbulence is a red herring. Particle trapping, banana orbits, neo-classical theory, energy confinement times and instabilities. Some strange phenomena: sawtooth oscillations, L- and H- modes of operation, major disruptions, and "snakes".
The viability of the tokamak solution to the energy crisis --- Big Science out of control?