Surrogate modeling of drift-reduced Braginskii turbulence with resistivity-conditioned Koopman neural operators

Abstract

Machine-learning-driven surrogate operators are developed for three-dimensional, nonlinear, flux-driven simulations of boundary plasma turbulence based on the two-fluid drift-reduced Braginskii model. Resistivity-conditioned Koopman neural operators (KNOs) are trained on Global Braginskii Solver (GBS) simulations, spanning low- to high-resistivity regimes. Separate fieldwise models are constructed for plasma density, electron temperature, electric potential, and vorticity. Evaluation at a held-out resistivity shows that the surrogates reproduce key short-horizon statistical features, including strong one-step agreement, spectral trends, and reduced pressure-gradient diagnostics. Field-dependent limitations remain, with vorticity showing the largest discrepancies and autoregressive rollout progressively departing from the reference simulation. The results demonstrate that resistivity-conditioned fieldwise neural operators provide useful fast emulators for selected boundary-plasma turbulence diagnostics, while stable long-horizon dynamical closure remains unresolved.