Fluctuations, structures and transport in magnetized plasmas

等离子体物理学是一门研究电离气体行为的基础科学学科，如太阳、地球电离层、行星际和星际空间中存在的电离气体。等离子体应用广泛应用于微电子、材料表面改性、废物处理、光源等许多领域。等离子体被用于深空任务和长期轨道保持的电力推进装置中。热等离子体是在实验室中产生的，以模拟太阳的条件，实现受控的热核聚变，以获得无限的清洁能源。在自然界和实验室中，等离子体经常沉浸在电场和磁场中，使其具有高度不规则和不可预测的行为的不稳定和湍流。尽管在空气动力学和天气预报方面取得了进展，但湍流及其相关的异常(湍流)输送仍然是一个悬而未决的问题，对经典物理来说是一个巨大的挑战。对等离子体湍流的理解对于诸如地球和太阳磁场的起源和动力学、太阳风、极光、太阳剧烈喷发以及电离层和空间中的许多其他现象等基本问题都是重要的。另一方面，等离子体湍流带来的困难阻碍了许多等离子体应用的发展，如受控热核聚变和电推进。我在理论等离子体物理学方面的长期研究目标是解释和预测磁约束等离子体的湍流行为和输运，包括那些用于技术和聚变应用的等离子体。具体地说，这项建议涉及两个主要主题：*1.发展物理模型和数值模拟来预测交叉电场和磁场维持的湍流等离子体中的异常电流和加热，这种湍流等离子体被广泛应用于各种等离子体推进和处理设备中。加深对这些条件下湍流等离子体的了解，将提高湍流的基本知识，满足电力推进技术的关键需求，并为材料加工带来更好的性能和新的机遇。*2.受控聚变用磁约束装置中与磁波动有关的电子能量传输、相互作用和等离子体波动的控制。这一主题解决了托卡马克中电子能量传输的长期难题，以及使用外部手段(如外部磁线圈)控制等离子体的可能性。这些领域的进展将使我们更接近在实验室实现受控聚变的目标。*这项研究促进了对物理、分析和临界分析的深入了解，以及在高性能计算和大数据集处理方面的强大技能。这些技能和专业知识对于保持加拿大在科学和高科技行业的竞争力至关重要。**

Physics of plasma is a basic science discipline studying the behavior of ionized gases such as those present in the Sun, the Earth's ionosphere, interplanetary and interstellar space. Plasma applications are pervasive in microelectronics, material surface modification, waste treatment, light sources, and many other areas. Plasmas are used in electric propulsion devices for deep space missions and long term orbit keeping. Hot plasmas are created in laboratories to imitate Sun conditions and achieve controlled thermonuclear fusion to access a limitless source of clean energy. In nature and laboratories, plasmas are often immersed in electric and magnetic fields, making them unstable and turbulent with highly irregular and unpredictable behavior. Despite the progress, such as in aerodynamics and weather forecasting, turbulence and the related anomalous (turbulent) transport is an unsolved problem and a great challenge for classical physics. Understanding of plasma turbulence is important for fundamental questions, such as the origin and dynamics of magnetic field of the Earth and Sun, solar wind, auroras, violent eruptions on the Sun, and many other phenomena in ionosphere and space. On the other side, progress in many plasma applications, such as controlled thermonuclear fusion and electric propulsion, has been hindered by difficulties caused by plasma turbulence. The long term objective of my research in theoretical plasma physics is to explain and predict the turbulent behavior and transport of magnetically confined plasmas including those for technological and fusion applications. Specifically, this proposal involves two major themes: *** 1. Development of physical models and numerical simulations to predict anomalous current and heating in turbulent plasma maintained by crossed electric and magnetic fields, which is widely used in various plasma propulsion and processing devices. Improved understanding of turbulent plasmas in these conditions would advance basic knowledge of turbulence as well as satisfy critical needs of electric propulsion technologies and bring better performance and new opportunities for material processing. *** 2. Electron energy transport associated with magnetic fluctuations, interaction and control of plasma fluctuations in magnetic confinement devices for controlled fusion. This theme addresses the long standing puzzle of electron energy transport in a tokamak and promising possibilities of plasma control with external means, such as external magnetic coils. Progress in these areas would bring us closer to the goal of achieving controlled fusion in the laboratory. *** This research promotes deep knowledge of physics, analytical and critical analysis, and strong skills in high performance computations and large data set processing. These skills and expertise are vital to maintain Canada's competitiveness in science and high technology industries. **