![]() “Should we trust them to predict what will happen in future fusion devices?” “The fact that our theory cannot explain something that happens so often in experiments makes us question those models,” Rodriquez-Fernandez says. The counterintuitive observation was not supported by any existing theory for plasma behavior. But what we observed is that, in certain conditions when we drop the temperature of the edge, the core got hotter. ![]() “When you cool the edge of the plasma by injecting impurities, what every standard theory and intuition would tell you is that a cold pulse propagates in, so that eventually the core temperature will drop as well. Experiments over 20 years have shown that, in certain circumstances, cooling the edge of the plasma results in the core becoming hotter. The focus of his thesis is plasma turbulence, and how heat is transported from the hot core to the edge of the plasma in a tokamak. His novel observations and subsequent modeling helped provide the answer, earning him the Del Favero Prize. How to confine turbulent plasma fuel in a donut-shaped vacuum chamber, making it hot and dense enough for fusion to take place, has generated questions - and answers - for decades.Īs a graduate student under the direction of Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Professor Anne White, Pablo Rodriguez-Fernandez PhD ’19 became intrigued by a fusion research mystery that had remained unsolved for 20 years. ![]() The field of magnetic fusion research has mysteries to spare.
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