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A detailed cross-device investigation on the role of filamentary dynamics in high-density regimes has been performed within the EUROfusion framework, comparing the ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) and TCV tokamaks. Both devices run density ramp experiments at different levels of plasma current, keeping the toroidal field or q95 constant in order to disentangle the role of the parallel connection length and the current. During the scan at a constant toroidal field, in both devices the scrape-off layer (SOL) profiles tend to develop a clear SOL density shoulder at a lower edge density whenever the current is reduced. Different current behaviour is substantially reconciled in terms of the edge density normalized to the Greenwald fraction. During the scan at constant q95 AUG exhibits similar behaviour, whereas in TCV no upstream profile modification signature has been observed at lower current levels. The latter behaviour has been ascribed to the lack of target density rollover. The relation between the upstream density profile modification and detachment condition has been investigated. For both devices the relation between blob size and the SOL density e-folding length is found independent of the plasma current, with the observation of a clear increase in blob size and the edge density normalized to a Greenwald fraction. ASDEX Upgrade has also explored filamentary behaviour in the H-mode. The experiments in AUG have focused on the role of neutrals, performing discharges with and without cryogenic pumps, highlighting how high neutral pressure, not only in the divertor but also at the midplane, is needed in order to develop an H-mode SOL profile shoulder in AUG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutral density distribution in the divertor region of ASDEX Upgrade is estimated in different discharge conditions. The 2D divertor emission of Dα and Dγ is obtained with a tomographic inversion of their brightness measured by two cameras. From these emissions, 2D maps of neutrals density n0 can be obtained by a simple model that takes into account both excitation and recombination processes populating deuterium n = 3 and n = 5 levels. In attached discharges, the neutral density n0 is larger in the inner divertor, and when increasing core ne its maximum moves toward the dome and the outer divertor region. In particular, the modification of the n0 distribution is studied in plasmas where the mean electron density in the core increases, moving from an attached to a detached phase. In these discharges, the outboard midplane scrape off layer electron density increases and its profile flattens, with the formation of the so called density shoulder. The modification of the neutral density is followed during this evolution, showing that both the shape and the absolute value of the n0 distribution change in time, suggesting that they play a role in the two phenomena of shoulder formation and detachment. Moreover, in the detached phase, also the recombination contributes to the neutral deuterium emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research program of the TCV tokamak ranges from conventional to advanced-tokamak scenarios and alternative divertor configurations, to exploratory plasmas driven by theoretical insight, exploiting the device’s unique shaping capabilities. Disruption avoidance by real-time locked mode prevention or unlocking with electron-cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) was thoroughly documented, using magnetic and radiation triggers. Runaway generation with high-Z noble-gas injection and runaway dissipation by subsequent Ne or Ar injection were studied for model validation. The new 1 MW neutral beam injector has expanded the parameter range, now encompassing ELMy H-modes in an ITER-like shape and nearly non-inductive H-mode discharges sustained by electron cyclotron and neutral beam current drive. In the H-mode, the pedestal pressure increases modestly with nitrogen seeding while fueling moves the density pedestal outwards, but the plasma stored energy is largely uncorrelated to either seeding or fueling. High fueling at high triangularity is key to accessing the attractive small edge-localized mode (type-II) regime. Turbulence is reduced in the core at negative triangularity, consistent with increased confinement and in accord with global gyrokinetic simulations. The geodesic acoustic mode, possibly coupled with avalanche events, has been linked with particle flow to the wall in diverted plasmas. Detachment, scrape-off layer transport, and turbulence were studied in L- and H-modes in both standard and alternative configurations (snowflake, super-X, and beyond). The detachment process is caused by power ‘starvation’ reducing the ionization source, with volume recombination playing only a minor role. Partial detachment in the H-mode is obtained with impurity seeding and has shown little dependence on flux expansion in standard single-null geometry. In the attached L-mode phase, increasing the outer connection length reduces the in–out heat-flow asymmetry. A doublet plasma, featuring an internal X-point, was achieved successfully, and a transport barrier was observed in the mantle just outside the internal separatrix. In the near future variable-configuration baffles and possibly divertor pumping will be introduced to investigate the effect of divertor closure on exhaust and performance, and 3.5 MW ECRH and 1 MW neutral beam injection heating will be added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fully non-inductive sustainment of high normalized beta plasmas () is a crucial challenge for the steady-state operation of a tokamak reactor. In order to assess the difficulties facing such scenarios, steady-state regimes have been explored on the tokamak à configuration variable (TCV) using the newly available 1 MW neutral beam injection (NBI) system. The operating space is extended towards plasmas that are closer to those expected in JT-60SA and ITER, i.e. with significant NBI and electron cyclotron resonance heating and current drive (ECRH/CD), bootstrap current and fast ion (FI) fraction. values up to 1.4 and 1.7 are obtained in lower single null L-mode () and H-mode () plasmas, respectively, at zero time averaged loop voltage and . Fully non-inductive operation is not achieved with NBI alone, whose injection can even increase the loop voltage in the presence of EC waves. A strong contribution to the total plasma pressure of thermal and FIs from NBI is experimentally evidenced and confirmed by interpretative ASTRA and NUBEAM modeling, which further predicts that FI charge-exchange reactions are the main loss channel for NBH/CD efficiency. Internal transport barriers, which are expected to maximize the bootstrap current fraction, are not formed in either the electron or the ion channel in the plasmas explored to date, despite a significant increase in the toroidal rotation and FI fraction with NBI, which are known to reduce turbulence. First results on scenario development of high- fully non-inductive H-mode plasmas are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyse higher toroidal harmonics m  =  1 with 7  <  n  <  23 (secondary modes) in the quasi single helicity, reversed field pinch plasma in the RFX-mod device. The quasi single helicity is an improved confinement state characterized by a dominant mode m/n  =  1/7, rotating along the toroidal direction. The spectroscopic measurements in the boundary plasma show footprints of a localized plasma deformation called ‘phase locking’, which can be described as an interferential pattern of toroidal Fourier harmonics. In the locking region the magnetic field lines are deformed in large poloidal lobes hitting the plasma facing components, a mechanism similar to the ‘homoclinic lobes’ observed in the Tokamak divertor with RMP application. Correspondingly, the magnetic connection length to the wall presents a strong decrease (‘hole’) with increased plasma-wall interaction, which fortunately is not stationary, but jumps in the toroidal direction thanks to the effective action of the RFX-mod feedback system. The global plasma wall interaction is the superposition of a rotating helix and of the localized toroidal deformation due to the secondary modes, which mirrors the local emission and particle influx from the wall. The local edge perturbation impacts also on the global plasma performance: a threshold to obtain an electron transport barrier has been identified. An improvement in plasma performance is expected in the upgraded device RFX-mod2, where the magnetic boundary will be modified to decrease the edge field deformation by a factor about 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heating neutral beam (HNB) injectors, necessary to achieve burning conditions and to control plasma instabilities in ITER, are characterized by such demanding parameters that a neutral beam test facility (NBTF) dedicated to their development and optimization is being realized in Padua (Italy) with direct contributions from the Italian government (through Consorzio RFX as the host entity) and the ITER international organization (with kind contributions from the ITER domestic agencies of Europe, Japan and India) and technical and scientific support from various European laboratories and universities. The NBTF hosts two experiments: SPIDER, devoted to ion source optimization for the required source performance, and MITICA, the full-size prototype of the ITER HNB, with an ion source identical to SPIDER. This paper gives an overview of the progress towards NBTF realization, with particular emphasis on issues discovered during this phase of activity and on solutions adopted to minimize the impact on the schedule and maintain the goals of the facilities. The realization of MITICA is well advanced; operation is expected to start in 2023 due to the long procurement time of the in-vessel mechanical components. The beam source power supplies, operating at 1 MV, are in an advanced phase of realization; all high-voltage components have been installed and the complex insulation test phase began in 2018. At the same time, construction and installation of SPIDER plant systems was successfully completed with their integration into the facility. The mechanical components of the SPIDER ion source were installed inside the vessel and connected to the plants. Integrated commissioning with the control, protection and safety systems ended positively and the first experimental phase has begun. The first results of the SPIDER experiment, with data from operational diagnostics, and the plans for the 1 MV insulation tests on the MITICA high-voltage components are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the EUROfusion MST1 work package, a series of experiments has been conducted on AUG and TCV devices to disentangle the role of plasma fueling and plasma shape for the onset of small ELM regimes. On both devices, small ELM regimes with high confinement are achieved if and only if two conditions are fulfilled at the same time. Firstly, the plasma density at the separatrix must be large enough (), leading to a pressure profile flattening at the separatrix, which stabilizes type-I ELMs. Secondly, the magnetic configuration has to be close to a double null (DN), leading to a reduction of the magnetic shear in the extreme vicinity of the separatrix. As a consequence, its stabilizing effect on ballooning modes is weakened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic topology of the stochastic edge of a helical reversed-field pinch, with helicity , shows to be deeply influenced by higher harmonics , with the same n, due to toroidal coupling. As a consequence, by measuring kinetic quantities in a particular location, one can incur in substantial errors or mis-interpretations of the kinetic plasma response: only a full 3D coverage of angles can reveal the real topology of the plasma. This can be a caveat for MP application in tokamaks, because it shows that toroidal and poloidal sidebands, though smaller than the base mode by a factor  ∼, can have a sizable effect on the kinetic response of the edge plasma, and thus on related issues (for example, ELM stabilization and suppression). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of a low-energy neutrino search using the Borexino detector in coincidence with the gravitational wave (GW) events GW 150914, GW 151226, and GW 170104. We searched for correlated neutrino events with visible energies greater than 250 keV within a time window of ±500 s centered around the GW detection time. A total of five candidates were found for all three GW events combined. This is consistent with the expected number of solar neutrino and background events. As a result, we have obtained the best current upper limits on all flavor neutrino () fluence associated with GW events, in the neutrino energy range 0.5–5.0 MeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the main recent results of the RFX-mod fusion science activity. The RFX-mod device is characterized by a unique flexibility in terms of accessible magnetic configurations. Axisymmetric and helically shaped reversed-field pinch equilibria have been studied, along with tokamak plasmas in a wide range of q(a) regimes (spanning from 4 down to 1.2 values). The full range of magnetic configurations in between the two, the so-called ultra-low q ones, has been explored, with the aim of studying specific physical issues common to all equilibria, such as, for example, the density limit phenomenon. The powerful RFX-mod feedback control system has been exploited for MHD control, which allowed us to extend the range of experimental parameters, as well as to induce specific magnetic perturbations for the study of 3D effects. In particular, transport, edge and isotope effects in 3D equilibria have been investigated, along with runaway mitigations through induced magnetic perturbations. The first transitions to an improved confinement scenario in circular and D-shaped tokamak plasmas have been obtained thanks to an active modification of the edge electric field through a polarized electrode. The experiments are supported by intense modeling with 3D MHD, gyrokinetic, guiding center and transport codes. Proposed modifications to the RFX-mod device, which will enable further contributions to the solution of key issues in the roadmap to ITER and DEMO, are also briefly presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating the plasma core performance with an edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) that leads to tolerable heat and particle loads on the wall is a major challenge. The new European medium size tokamak task force (EU-MST) coordinates research on ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), MAST and TCV. This multi-machine approach within EU-MST, covering a wide parameter range, is instrumental to progress in the field, as ITER and DEMO core/pedestal and SOL parameters are not achievable simultaneously in present day devices. A two prong approach is adopted. On the one hand, scenarios with tolerable transient heat and particle loads, including active edge localised mode (ELM) control are developed. On the other hand, divertor solutions including advanced magnetic configurations are studied. Considerable progress has been made on both approaches, in particular in the fields of: ELM control with resonant magnetic perturbations (RMP), small ELM regimes, detachment onset and control, as well as filamentary scrape-off-layer transport. For example full ELM suppression has now been achieved on AUG at low collisionality with n  =  2 RMP maintaining good confinement . Advances have been made with respect to detachment onset and control. Studies in advanced divertor configurations (Snowflake, Super-X and X-point target divertor) shed new light on SOL physics. Cross field filamentary transport has been characterised in a wide parameter regime on AUG, MAST and TCV progressing the theoretical and experimental understanding crucial for predicting first wall loads in ITER and DEMO. Conditions in the SOL also play a crucial role for ELM stability and access to small ELM regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SPIDER is one of two projects of the ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility under construction in Padova, Italy, at the Consorzio RFX premises. It will have a 100 keV beam source with a full-size prototype of the radiofrequency ion source for the ITER neutral beam injector (NBI) and also, similar to the ITER diagnostic neutral beam, it is designed to operate with a pulse length of up to 3600 s, featuring an ITER-like magnetic filter field configuration (for high extraction of negative ions) and caesium oven (for high production of negative ions) layout as well as a wide set of diagnostics. These features will allow a reproduction of the ion source operation in ITER, which cannot be done in any other existing test facility. SPIDER realization is well advanced and the first operation is expected at the beginning of 2018, with the mission of achieving the ITER heating and diagnostic NBI ion source requirements and of improving its performance in terms of reliability and availability. This paper mainly focuses on the preparation of the first SPIDER operations—integration and testing of SPIDER components, completion and implementation of diagnostics and control and formulation of operation and research plan, based on a staged strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The response of the edge plasma to a magnetic perturbation (MP) is studied in the RFX-mod device, in both reversed field pinch (RFP) and tokamak discharges. The use of spatially distributed diagnostics, in particular along the poloidal direction, allows a direct 3D characterization of the plasma. It is shown that there is a difference between the spectrum of the MP and that of different properties of the edge plasma, such as the floating potential, the electron pressure and the flow, for both RFP and tokamak plasmas. In particular, for RFP cases, even if the magnetic perturbation is mainly m  =  1, with the amplitude of the m  =  0 and m  =  2 sidebands negligible, the connection length to the wall of the magnetic field Lcw has a more complex structure. The ergodic regions, with Lcw larger than the Kolmogorov length, are due to the interaction of both m  =  1 and m  =  0 modes, showing a complex and non-monochromatic behaviour along the poloidal angle. This structure of Lcw is responsible for the impure m  =  1 behaviour of the plasma wall interaction, floating potential and electron pressure. Thus the helicity of the edge plasma is quite different from that of the dominant MP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an overview of FTU experiments on runaway electron (RE) generation and control carried out through a comprehensive set of real-time (RT) diagnostics/control systems and newly installed RE diagnostics. An RE imaging spectrometer system detects visible and infrared synchrotron radiation. A Cherenkov probe measures RE escaping the plasma. A gamma camera provides hard x-ray radial profiles from RE bremsstrahlung interactions in the plasma. Experiments on the onset and suppression of RE show that the threshold electric field for RE generation is larger than that expected according to a purely collisional theory, but consistent with an increase due to synchrotron radiation losses. This might imply a lower density to be targeted with massive gas injection for RE suppression in ITER. Experiments on active control of disruption-generated RE have been performed through feedback on poloidal coils by implementing an RT boundary-reconstruction algorithm evaluated on magnetic moments. The results indicate that the slow plasma current ramp-down and the simultaneous reduction of the reference plasma external radius are beneficial in dissipating the RE beam energy and population, leading to reduced RE interactions with plasma facing components. RE active control is therefore suggested as a possible alternative or complementary technique to massive gas injection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A versatile negative hydrogen ion source named NIO1 of a moderate size (130 mA total extracted H− current, 9 apertures, 60 kV total acceleration) has been developed and installed at Consorzio RFX. It will allow great experimental flexibility, very beneficial for studying several important issues related to beam extraction, optics and performance optimization, in view of SPIDER and MITICA, the two full-scale experiments for the ITER neutral beam injector under construction at RFX. The main target of emission tomography applied to an ion beam is the reconstruction of the emissivity profile, from which the ion density distribution can be obtained. The measurement of the beam density profile and of its uniformity throughout the pulse duration with a non-invasive diagnostic, such as tomography, would represent an effective method for monitoring the ion source operation and for malfunction detection. The application of this diagnostic to the NIO1 beam will represent the experimental verification of the possibility to reconstruct a multi-beamlet profile, in the interest of the next tomography systems for SPIDER and MITICA. In this paper, a feasibility study of the tomographic diagnostic for NIO1 is presented. A tomography code based on algebraic reconstruction techniques has been developed for this purpose and the transport of the nine H− beamlets is simulated with a Monte Carlo particle tracking code from the ion source to the tomography plane, where the beam emissivity profile to be reconstructed is calculated. The reference emissivity profile is reconstructed by the tomography code considering different possible layouts of the detection system, in order to find the best compromise between the quality of reconstructions and the complexity of the diagnostic. Results show that a tomography system based on six linear CCD cameras should be capable of reconstructing the NIO1 emissivity profile with an rms error lower than 10%. How instrumental noise in the integrated signals affects the reconstructed beam emissivity profiles is also studied. A simple low-pass filter is found effective if the noise level is less than 10%; otherwise a more sophisticated filtering technique must be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive statistical characterization of the electromagnetic turbulence in the edge region of RFX-mod, operated as a tokamak and as a Reversed Field Pinch, is presented. Striking similarity are observed on the intermittent character of the electrostatic turbulence between the two configurations whereas the difference between magnetic turbulence is likely to be imputed to the different β value of the two configurations. Blobs are characterized in terms of their spatial structure, the associated enstrophy and energy and the mechanism of energy and enstrophy transfer between intermittent fluctuation at different scales is addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We search for tri-nucleon decays of $$^{76}$$ 76 Ge in the dataset from the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment. Decays that populate excited levels of the daughter nucleus above the threshold for particle emission lead to disintegration and are not considered. The ppp-, ppn-, and pnn-decays lead to $$^{73}$$ 73 Cu, $$^{73}$$ 73 Zn, and $$^{73}$$ 73 Ga nuclei, respectively. These nuclei are unstable and eventually proceed by the beta decay of $$^{73}$$ 73 Ga to $$^{73}$$ 73 Ge (stable). We search for the $$^{73}$$ 73 Ga decay exploiting the fact that it dominantly populates the 66.7 keV $$^{73m}$$ 73 m Ga state with half-life of 0.5 s. The nnn-decays of $$^{76}$$ 76 Ge that proceed via $$^{73m}$$ 73 m Ge are also included in our analysis. We find no signal candidate and place a limit on the sum of the decay widths of the inclusive tri-nucleon decays that corresponds to a lower lifetime limit of 1.2 $$\times $$ × 10 $$^{26}$$ 26 yr (90% credible interval). This result improves previous limits for tri-nucleon decays by one to three orders of magnitude.