Plasma and Fusion Research

Volume 13, 3401025 (2018)

Regular Articles

Effective Proton Heating through Collisionless Driven Reconnection in the Presence of Guide Field
Shunsuke USAMI1), Ritoku HORIUCHI1,2), Hiroaki OHTANI1,2), Yasushi ONO3) and Hiroshi TANABE3)
1)
National Institute for Fusion Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Toki 509-5292, Japan
2)
Sokendai (The Graduate University of Advanced Studies), Toki 509-5292, Japan
3)
University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan
(Received 28 December 2017 / Accepted 27 February 2018 / Published 10 April 2018)

Abstract

The plasma heating mechanism during magnetic reconnection in the presence of guide magnetic field is investigated by means of particle simulations and test particle simulations. Particle simulations demonstrate that ring-like structures of ion velocity distributions are formed in the downstream, where a large percentage of ions are effectively heated. Furthermore, a single ion motion is focused upon by using test particle simulations. The ion moves in the downstream direction owing to the E × B drift while in gyromotion. Finally, it is reported that the profile of the ion temperature obtained by the particle simulation fits well with the profile observed in the TS-3 experiment.

Keywords

particle simulation, magnetic reconnection, plasma heating, spherical tokamak, PASMO, TS-3

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.13.3401025

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