'Sandpile' science helps answer fusion questions
Physicists from the University of Warwick, in the UK, and the EURATOM/UKAEA fusion research programme at the Culham Science Centre say they have found a new 'simple and elegant way' of using the science of 'sandpiles' to achieve a clear model of how a fusion plasma 'self organises' itself into a superstable state. The result could prove to be a crucial key to power generation from fusion plasma. 'This result is important because it demonstrates a comparatively simple link between space, astrophysical, and fusion plasmas and their overall confinement properties, and is a clear and welcome example of the unity of physics,' say the researchers from the University of Warwick. The University of Warwick and the Culham Science Centre team used sandpile modelling on the problem of stable plasma confinement. They found a numerical 'sandpile' that mimics the self organisation of the fusion plasma to its superstable 'H mode' producing a model simple enough to allow detailed theoretical analysis. A paper detailing their approach will be published in Physical Review Letters, on 19 March 2001. This work was supported at Warwick by the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, and at Culham by EURATOM and the DTI.