Quantification of the uncertainty arising from atomic physics in edge plasmas

Abstract

It is clear that atomic physics rates are important for understanding the edge plasma — but how important is the uncertainty in these rates in contributing to the uncertainty in simulations of the edge plasma?Standard Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) methods are used to attempt to provide an answer: first to the charge state balance in a coronal plasma model, and, second, to the plasma profiles in 1D SOLPS-ITER simulations of the Scrape-Off Layer with deuterium and nitrogen.For the charge state balance, larger deviations are observed in using different atomic physics data sets, than assuming reasonable uncertainties in the rates. For the SOLPS-ITER simulations, assumed uncertainties in the upstream boundary conditions (D and N densities, electron and ion power inputs) are typically more important than the same level of assumed uncertainties in the atomic physics rates.

Keywords

• Edge plasma physics
• Atomic physics
• Uncertainty Quantification
• SOLPS-ITER
• SOL physics
• EasyVVUQ