Analysis of non-diffusive avalanche transport of energetic particles

Abstract

The dynamics of energetic particles (EPs) interacting with Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) for the ITER 15MA baseline scenario was described using a reduced 1D model in [Carlevaro et al. PPCF 64, 035010 (2022)], and successfully tested against nonlinear wave-particle simulations. In this paper, we introduce a detailed phase-space and statistical analysis of this case to characterize the emerging EP transport regimes. Deviations from pure diffusive dynamics are quantitatively addressed, indicating the limitations of standard quasi-linear descriptions. The phase space diagnostics introduced allows to describe the emergence of a very complex dynamics of overlapping resonances and substructure formation, reinforcing the evidence of non-diffusive domino-like AEs.