Escape and transport in chaotic motion of charged particles in a magnetized plasma under the influence of two and three modes of drift waves

Abstract

This study investigates how two- and three-wave configurations govern particle escape and transport in tokamak edge plasmas. Using a Hamiltonian model derived from drift-wave turbulence, we analyze test particle dynamics through Poincar\'e maps, fractal escape basins, and entropy metrics. Introducing a third wave increases basin entropy, enhancing particle escape rates while reducing basin boundary entropy, indicative of suppressed basin mixing. Escape time analyses reveal resonant scattering disrupts coherent transport pathways, linking fractal absorption patterns to heat load mitigation in divertors. Characteristic transport is also analyzed and regimes transition between anomalous $(\alpha > 1)$ and normal diffusion $(\alpha \approx 1)$, two-wave systems sustain anomalous transport, while the third wave homogenizes fluxes through stochastic scattering. Fractal structures in escape basins and entropy-driven uncertainty quantification suggest strategies to engineer transport properties, balancing chaos and order for optimized confinement.