Publications

2025

• Survey of the edge radial electric field in L-mode TCV plasmas using Doppler backscattering
  
  • Rienäcker S
  • Hennequin P
  • Vermare L
  • Honoré C
  • Coda S
  • Labit B
  • Vincent Benjamin
  • Wang Y
  • Frassinetti L
  • Panico O
  Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, IOP Publishing, 2025, 67 (6), pp.065003. A Doppler backscattering (DBS) diagnostic has recently been installed on the Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) to facilitate the study of edge turbulence and flow shear in a versatile experimental environment. The dual channel V-band DBS system is coupled to TCV’s quasi-optical diagnostic launcher, providing access to the upper low-field side region of the plasma cross-section. Verifications of the DBS measurements are presented. The DBS equilibrium v ⊥ profiles are found to compare favorably with gas puff imaging (GPI) measurements and to the E r inferred from the radial force balance of the carbon impurity. The radial structure of the edge E r × B equilibrium flow and its dependencies are investigated across a representative set of L-mode TCV discharges, by varying density, auxiliary heating and magnetic configuration. (10.1088/1361-6587/add0e0)
  DOI : 10.1088/1361-6587/add0e0
• Phase transition from turbulence to zonal flows in the Hasegawa–Wakatani system
  
  • Guillon P L
  • Gürcan Ö D
  Physics of Plasmas, American Institute of Physics, 2025, 32 (1). The transition between two-dimensional hydrodynamic turbulence and quasi-one-dimensional zonostrophic turbulence is examined in the modified Hasegawa–Wakatani system, which is considered as a minimal model of β-plane-like drift-wave turbulence with an intrinsic instability. Extensive parameter scans were performed across a wide range of values for the adiabaticity parameter C describing the strength of coupling between the two equations. A sharp transition from 2D isotropic turbulence to a quasi-1D system, dominated by zonal flows, is observed using the fraction of the kinetic energy of the zonal modes as the order parameter, at C≈0.1. It is shown that this transition exhibits a hysteresis loop around the transition point, where the adiabaticity parameter plays the role of the control parameter of its nonlinear self-organization. It was also observed that the radial particle flux scales with the adiabaticity parameter following two different power law dependencies in the two regimes. A simple quasi-linear saturation rule which accounts for the presence of zonal flows is proposed, and is shown to agree very well with the observed nonlinear fluxes. Motivated by the phenomenon of quasi-one dimensionalisation of the system at high C, a number of reduction schemes based on a limited number of modes were investigated and the results were compared to direct numerical simulations. In particular, it was observed that a minimal reduced model consisting of 2 poloidal and 2 radial modes was able to replicate the phase transition behavior, while any further reduction failed to capture it. (10.1063/5.0242282)
  DOI : 10.1063/5.0242282
• The Solar Orbiter merged magnetic field
  
  • Kretzschmar M.
  • Brochot J.-Y.
  • Horbury T. S.
  • Rackovic K.
  • Maksimovic M.
  • Alexandrova O.
  • Bonnin X.
  • Jannet G.
  • O’brien H.
  • Crabtree A.
  • Morris J.
  • Krasnoselskikh Vladimir
  • Dudok de Wit Thierry
  • Le Contel O.
  • Chust T.
  • de Gelis P.-M.
  • da Silva Gonçalves L.
  • Fauchon-Jones E.
  Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&A, EDP Sciences, 2025, 699, pp.A236. Context. In situ studies of the solar wind require precise magnetic field measurements at all frequencies. The Solar Orbiter mission carries two magnetometers to measure the solar wind magnetic field: the fluxgate magnetometer (MAG), which is best suited for frequencies from DC to a few Hertz, and the search coil magnetometer (SCM), which is best suited for frequencies above a few Hertz. Aims: The aim of this paper is to produce a merged magnetic field data product that takes the best of both instruments and provides the community with high quality, easy to use magnetic field data over a wide range of frequencies. Methods: We first compared the two instruments in their overlapping frequency range, then we performed the merging in Fourier space using a weighted function determined by the sensitivity of the two sensors. Results: The two instruments are found to give consistent results in their overlapping frequency range. SCM has a lower gain than MAG by 14% around 1 Hz and MAG is delayed by about 20 ms with respect to SCM, and the merged magnetic field takes care of these discrepancies. It is basically identical to MAG data below 2 Hz and to SCM data above about 15 Hz (with amplitude increased by 14%). We show that the merged magnetic field is suitable to analyse waves and turbulence over a broad frequency range, in particular by confirming that ion cyclotron waves can lower the level of energy at the sub ionic scales. The merged magnetic field is distributed as daily files containing the magnetic field at either 256 or 4096 Hz, and either in the radial-tangential-normal co-ordinates or in the spacecraft reference frame co-ordinates. (10.1051/0004-6361/202554731)
  DOI : 10.1051/0004-6361/202554731
• Characterization of the solar wind context during the third Mercury flyby of BepiColombo
  
  • Rojo M.
  • Réville V.
  • Aizawa S.
  • Varsani A.
  • Schmid D.
  • Jarry M.
  • Rodríguez-García L.
  • Persson M.
  • Rouillard A.
  • Heyner D.
  • Milillo A.
  • André N.
  • Saito Y.
  • Murakami G.
  • Kasper J. C.
  • Bale S. D.
  Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&A, EDP Sciences, 2025, 698, pp.A221. Context. The interaction of the solar wind (SW) with the coupled magnetosphere-exosphere-surface of Mercury is complex. Charged particles released by the SW can precipitate along planetary magnetic field lines on specific areas of the surface of the planet. The processes responsible for the particle precipitation strongly depend on the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) upstream of Mercury.Aims. During the third Mercury flyby (MFB3) by BepiColombo, the properties of the SW inferred from BepiColombo observations of a highly compressed magnetosphere corresponded to those of a very dense plasma embedded in a slow SW. The Mercury Electron Analyzer (MEA) measured continuous high-energy electron fluxes in the nightside dawn sector of the compressed magnetosphere. In order to constrain further studies related to the origin of these populations, we aim to firmly confirm the initial inferences and detail the SW properties throughout MFB3.Methods. We took advantage of a close radial alignment between Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and Mercury. We monitored the activity of the Sun using SOHO coronagraphs and we used a potential field source surface model to estimate the location of the magnetic footpoints of PSP and BepiColombo on the photosphere of the Sun. We propagated the plasma parameters and the IMF measured by PSP at BepiColombo, to check if the plasma impacted Mercury.Results. We show that during MFB3, PSP and BepiColombo connected magnetically to the same region at the solar surface. The slow SW perturbation first measured at PSP propagated to Mercury and BepiColombo, as was confirmed by similarly elevated plasma densities measured at PSP and BepiColombo. The IMF orientation stayed southward during the whole MFB3.Conclusions. Our results provide strong constraints for future studies of the magnetospheric structure and dynamics during MFB3, including tail reconnection, electron and ion energization, and subsequent plasma precipitation onto the surface of Mercury. (10.1051/0004-6361/202553870)
  DOI : 10.1051/0004-6361/202553870