Summary Talk: X Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics November 30, 2003 - December 5, 2003 São Pedro, S.P., Brazil

Opher, Reuven

doi:10.1590/S0103-97332004000800058

Summary Talk

X Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

November 30, 2003 - December 5, 2003

São Pedro, S.P., Brazil

Reuven Opher

IAG, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 1226, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil

ABSTRACT

Of the many important topics that were discussed at the workshop, I summarize and comment on 25 presentations, which I found to be particularly interesting. They fall into all of the areas covered in the conference: basic plasma phenomena, space and astrophysical plasmas, technological applications of plasma, and thermonuclear fusion.

1 Introduction

The Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (LAWPP) meets every two years, uniting plasma physicists from all over Latin America. These workshops also include the participation of physicists from all over the world.

There were 40 oral talks and 205 posters presented at the workshop, covering the areas of basic plasma physics phenomena, space and astrophysical plasmas, technological applications of plasma, and thermonuclear fusion.

From among the many excellent presentations, I have chosen to summarize and comment on the following 25, that seem to me to be the most interesting, in the limited time available for this summary talk.

A. Basic Plasma Phenomena

1. Supersonic plumes through magnetized plasmas;

2. Coupled map lattices;

3. The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability dependence on the structure of the transition layer;

4. Stablization of ion-bead instabilities;

5. The nature of ball lightning: a force-free magnetic field;

6. The nature of ball lightning: coupled vortex-magnetic field;

7. Observing plasma temperatures;

8. Multi-harmonic Langmuir wave generation in beam-plasma interactions.

B. Space and Astrophysical Plasmas

1. The effective charge of a neutrino in a plasma;

2. The influence of solar plasma density perturbations on neutrino propagation;

3. Lightening bead instabilites;

4. Gyrophase electron organization in space plasmas.

C. Technological Applications of Plasma

1. Plasma processing of domestic and industrial waste;

2. Space plasma propulsion using the Hall effect.

D. Thermonuclear Fusion

1. Alfven wave heating in tokamaks;

2. Instability supression in a Z-pinch by an axial sheared flow;

3. Spark ignition in an inertialy confined plasma;

4. Present status of ITER;

5. Present status of IGNITOR;

6. Reflectometry diagnostics for burning plasmas;

7. Pellet injection in toroidal plasmas;

8. Controlling turbulence;

9. Effects of electric fields on MHD activity;

10. Magnetic islands, radial electric fields, and plasma rotation in tokamaks;

11. Diffusion of heavy charged ions, radial electric fields, and plasma rotation in tokamaks.

This summary is organized around the main ideas in the talks and posters which are reviewed. The original titles of the presentations as well as all of the names of the authors can be found at the end of the summary.

2 Summary and comments

A. Basic Plasma Phenomena

1. Supersonic plumes moving through magnetized plasmas

Morales and Tsung discussed supersonic plumes moving through magnetized plasmas. Supersonic plumes created by laser ablation are generated in the Basic Plasma Facility at UCLA. Investigating the properties of these plumes with an electromagnetic particle-in-cell code, it was found that there is a ballistic expansion of energetic electrons along the field. The return currents excite various electromagnetic waves: shear Alfven waves along the field and Whistler and compressional modes in the transverse direction.