The L-H transition in tokamaks: power threshold, density minimum and toroidal-field asymmetry

Abstract

The physical mechanism underlying the L--H transition in tokamaks has remained an open problem for over forty years. We present three-dimensional flux-driven two-fluid simulations in a diverted geometry that exhibit a confinement transition at lower power in the favourable toroidal-field configuration. The simulations show that electromagnetic drift-wave turbulence spontaneously generates a sheared $\bm{E}\times \bm{B}$ flow responsible for transport suppression. The toroidal-field-direction asymmetry arises from time-reversal symmetry breaking by finite collisionality, as demonstrated by a quasilinear calculation of the turbulent momentum flux. First-principles scaling laws are derived for the L--H power threshold in both density branches, the density minimum, and the minimum power, all matching or surpassing existing empirical scalings.