O objetivo do trabalho é a investigação da excitação de ondas no plasma com o uso de uma antena externa e fazer uma análise das ressonâncias de Alfvén encontradas. O sistema de antenas de Alfvén no tokamak TCABR foi desenhado para aquecimento do plasma por meio de ressonâncias. Al em do aquecimento, é possível usar a detecção de ondas excitadas com o uso da antena para objetivos de diagnóstico do plasma, encontrando o valor do perfil de segurança e massa efetiva dos íons. Por causa de uma falha nos diodos do campo toroidal usamos o regime de disparos de limpeza, com campo magnético toroidal mais fraco que de disparos tópicos do TCABR, para os testes do método de excitação e identificação de ressonâncias no plasma. Com o uso do circuito demodulador foram medidas ondas de helicon excitadas com a antena de Alfvén no plasma de limpeza usando as sondas magnéticas e de Langmuir. Com simulação foi possível idênticas as ondas medidas. Há disponível um gerador de frequência variável que foi utilizado junto desse experimento. Ambos os equipamentos se encontram preparados para uso, sendo a próxima etapa usar o plasma tópico de disparo do TCABR, que tem maior densidade que o plasma de limpeza. As medidas realizadas foram um teste para o circuito demodulador e gerador de frequência variável, que teve seu comportamento comparado com os dados de um osciloscópio de alta frequência de amostragem. Os equipamentos do TCABR usados nos experimentos, as antenas e sondas magnéticas, um gerador de baixa potência com frequência variável, um circuito demodulador, sonda de Langmuir e o reflectômetro, que tem alta taxa de amostragem (200MHz) e varredura de frequência na banda de 18 40GHz. São todos descritos na dissertação. Para modelagem das ressonâncias de Alfvén foi feito o cálculo do tensor dielétrico do plasma para o modelo cinético e para o limite magnetohidrodinâmico. Por meio de simulação computacional e cálculos considerando plasma como um fluido de 2 componentes, no caso prótons e elétrons, é possível determinar alguns tipos de onda que podem ser excitadas no plasma e sua relação de dispersão, foram calculadas a onda magnetossônica rápida e a onda global de Alfvén. Determinamos radialmente a posição dos campos eletromagnéticos no plasma. Usando o reactômetro foram medidas as ressonâncias das ondas de Alfvén na borda do plasma induzidas pelas antenas, com o plasma tópico do tokamak, com densidade mais alta e o gerador de alta potência com frequência fixa. O método para achar as ressonâncias nos dados do reflectômetro foi com o uso de sidebands que aparecem em torno da frequência da ressonância não sinal do reflectômetro, que é a frequência do gerador. As sidebands foram analisadas com um espectrograma dos dados. As ondas excitadas na borda do plasma puderam ser identificadas também nas simulações. Os resultados da análise mostram que foi possível medir as ondas no plasma que foram excitadas com o uso das antenas e tanto o circuito demodulador com o uso de sondas magnéticas como o reflectômetro são adequados para se achar ressonâncias no plasma. / The objective of this work is to investigate the excitation of waves in a plasma using an antenna and to analyse the Alfvén resonances found. The Alfvén antenna heating system of the TCABR tokamak was designed to heat the plasma due to resonances. As the diodes of the toroidal field had burned down we used cleaning discharges, with low toroidal magnetic field, to test the excitation method and the identification of plasma resonances. With the demodulator circuit we measured helicon waves excited with the Alfv en antenna in the cleaning plasma using Langmuir and magnetic probes. With computational simulation we found the measured waves. A generator of variable frequency was used in this experiment. Both equipments are prepared for future experiments with the typical plasma of the TCABR, which has higher density than the cleaning plasma. This work was aimed to test to the demodulator circuit and the variable frequency generator, the data obtained were compared to that of a high sampling frequency oscilloscope. It is presented the description of the TCABR equipments used, antenna, magnetic probe, variable frequency generator of low power, demodulator circuit, Langmuir probe and a reflectometer which has a high sampling frequency (200MHZ) and frequency scanning in the range 18 40GHz, and was built in Portugal. In order to have a model of Alfv en resonances we calculated the plasma dieletric tensor both in the kinetic and magnetohydrodynamic limits. With computational simulation and using a two uid model, protons and electrons, it is possible to find some of the excited waves in the plasma and its dispersion relation, we calculated the fast magnetosonic wave and the global Alfvén wave. We found the radial position of the electromagnetic fields in the plasma. With the re ectometer we measured resonances of Alfvén waves induced by the antenna at the plasma border in a typical TCABR tokamak plasma discharge, with higher density and a high power fixed frequency generator. We used sidebands as a method to find out the resonances in the reflectometer data. These sidebands are localized around the resonance frequency, which is the Alfvén wave generator frequency. The sidebands were analysed with spectrograms of the data. The waves excited at the plasma border were also found in the simulation. The analysis results show that we could detect the plasma waves excited with the antennas. The demodulator circuit along with magnetic probes and the reflectometer can be used to find plasma resonances.

The determination of plasma equilibrium profiles is necessary to evaluate the properties of the confinement and to investigate perturbation effects. Optical diagnostics can be used to determine some of these profiles. However, these diagnostics measure all emitted radiation at a solid angle that illuminate each diagnostic channel through a slit. Therefore, the real measured quantity is the emissivity integrated along the line-of-sight and some unfolding procedure, like Abels inversion, is commonly used to recover the emissivity profile. In TCABR tokamak, at the Physics Institute of the University of São Paulo, a 24-channel bolometer and a 20-channel soft X-ray optical diagnostics are used to measure the plasma emissivity in wavelength range from 1.0 to 1000 nm, depending on the used filters. In this work, a numerical simulation is used to compute the signal measured by the diagnostics for a given emissivity profile, allowing direct comparison with the experimental data and avoiding the use of the Abel\'s inversion directly and the numerical difficulties associated with unfolding procedures. By considering TCABR tokamak geometry, spatial coordinates can be related to the normalized linear coordinates of the plasma by imposing a plasma emissivity model that depends on some free parameters, allowing the emissivity resulting in each point can be calculated. Thus, the luminosity of each channel is calculated by the integral of the emissivity modeled in each line-of-sight (Radon Transformation). Emissivity model free parameters are determined by fitting calculated luminosity to measured one. We considered three types of emissivity profiles: a parabolic model in law of power, a Gaussian model and a model based on Bessel functions. We observed that the parabolic profile fits well the bolometer data, while the Gaussian profile is adequate to describe the data obtained with the soft X-ray detector. / A determinação dos perfis de equilíbrio do plasma é necessária para avaliar as propriedades do confinamento e para investigar os efeitos de perturbações. Diagnósticos ópticos podem ser usados para determinar alguns desses perfis. No entanto, esses diagnósticos medem toda a radiação luminosa emitida em um ângulo sólido que ilumina cada canal do detector através de uma fenda. Assim, a verdadeira grandeza física medida é a emissividade integrada ao longo da linha de visada. Com isso, algum procedimento de deconvolução, como a inversão de Abel, se faz necessário para obter o perfil de emissividade. No tokamak TCABR do Instituto de Física da USP, um bolômetro de 24 canais e um detector de raios-X moles de 20 canais são utilizados para medir a emissividade do plasma no intervalo de comprimento de onda de 1 a 1.000 nm, dependendo dos filtros utilizados. Neste trabalho, uma simulação numérica é usada para calcular o sinal medido pelos diagnósticos para um dado perfil de emissividade, possibilitando a comparação direta com os dados experimentais, evitando a realização da inversão de Abel e os problemas numéricos associados aos procedimentos de deconvolução. Pela consideração da geometria do tokamak TCABR, as coordenadas espaciais podem ser relacionadas com as coordenadas lineares normalizadas do plasma por meio da imposição de um modelo de emissividade para o plasma que dependa de alguns parâmetros livres, permitindo que a emissividade resultante em cada ponto possa ser calculada. Assim, a luminosidade de cada canal é calculada pela integral da emissividade modelada em cada linha de visada (Transformada de Radon). Os parâmetros livres dos perfis de emissividade são determinados ajustando-se as luminosidades calculadas em termos das luminosidades medidas. Nós consideramos três modelos de perfis de emissividade: um modelo parabólico em lei de potência, um modelo gaussiano e um modelo baseado em funções de Bessel. Observamos que o perfil parabólico ajusta-se bem aos dados do bolômetro, ao passo que o perfil gaussiano é adequado para descrever os dados obtidos com o detector de raios-X moles.

Ao longo dos últimos anos é notável, de forma cada vez mais evidente, a necessidade de uma nova fonte de energia para humanidade. Uma promissora opção é através de Fusão Nuclear, onde o plasma produzido no reator pode ter energia convertida em elétrica. Portanto, conhecer características desse plasma é de suma importância para controlá-lo e entendê-lo de forma desejável. Uma das opções de diagnósticos é o chamado Espalhamento Thomson. Este é considerado o método mais confiável na determinação de importantes parâmetros do plasma, como temperatura e densidade eletrônica, podendo ainda ajudar no estudo e explicação de vários mecanismos internos. A grande vantagem reside no fato de se consistir numa medição direta e não perturbativa. Porém trata-se de um diagnóstico cuja instalação e execução é reconhecidamente complexa, limitando-o apenas a poucos laboratórios da área de fusão pelo mundo. Entre as principais dificuldades, pode-se destacar o fato de que o sinal espalhado é muito pequeno, necessitando assim de um grande aumento da potência incidente. Além disso, as condições físicas externas podem ocasionar vibrações mecânicas que, eliminá-las ou minimizá-las ao máximo, constitui um grande desafio, levando em conta a óptica muito sensível e micrometricamente precisa envolvida no sistema. O presente trabalho descreve todo processo de instalação e operação do diagnóstico de Espalhamento Thomson no tokamak TCABR e, através deste diagnóstico, trabalhamos na obtenção de resultados da temperatura eletrônica, para finalmente ser possível calcular a densidade eletrônica do plasma. / Over the last few years is remarkable, so increasingly evident the need for a new source of energy for mankind. One promising option is through nuclear fusion, where the plasma produced in the reactor can be converted into electrical energy. Therefore, knowing the characteristics of this plasma is very important to control it and understand it so desirable. One of the diagnostic options is called Thomson scattering . This is considered the most reliable method for the determination of important plasma parameters such as temperature and electron density, and may also help in the study and explanation of various internal mechanisms . The great advantage lies in the fact that they consist of a direct measurement and nonperturbative . But it is a diagnosis whose installation and execution is admittedly complex, limiting it only a few laboratories in the field of fusion for the world. Among the main difficulties, we can highlight the fact that the scattered signal is very small, thus requiring a large increase of the incident power. Moreover, the external physical conditions can cause mechanical vibrations that eliminate or minimize them as much as possible, is a great challenge, considering the optical micrometrically very sensitive and needs involved in the system. This work describes the entire process of installation and operation of Thomson scattering diagnostic in tokamak TCABR and through this diagnosis, we work on results of electron temperature, to finally be able to calculate the electron density of the plasma.

Neste trabalho foi feito um estudo do perfil tomográfico da emissão da linha do átomo de hidrogênio, H-alfa (?=656,28 nm) no plasma do TCABR, um tokamak de porte médio em operação no Laboratório de Física de Plasmas do Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo. Nosso trabalho centrou-se no estudo dos efeitos da introdução de um eletrodo polarizado na borda do plasma no tokamak TCABR. O eletrodo pode ser introduzido até 1,5 cm para dentro da coluna do plasma, sem causar disrupturas para polarização positiva de 0 até +350V, e situado no plano equatorial do tokamak. Perfis tomográficos de H-alfa com e sem polarização foram medidos. A comparação dos perfis mostra um aumento da densidade de linha na posição central, quando a emissividade H-alfa diminui. A análise dos perfis tomográficos de H-alfa, tempo de confinamento das partículas e também do estudo de reciclagem das partículas neutras, indica que o plasma entra no regime de alto confinamento (modo-H). Cálculos de turbulência e de transporte na borda do plasma (SOL), feitos medindo o potencial flutuante e a corrente de saturação de íons, mostram uma diminuição forte no espectro de potência e de transporte. Também foram feitos estudos do novo regime de descargas com elétrons fugitivos (\"runaway electron\"), descoberto no tokamak TCABR. As características distintivas deste regime são um plasma de baixa temperatura fracamente ionizado, destacado do limitador devido a processos de recombinação, e instabilidade de relaxação com fortes picos de emissão H-alfa correlacionados com instabilidade dente de serra da densidade eletrônica de linha. No presente trabalho fazemos a descrição das condições experimentais para a geração destas descargas. A produção dos elétrons fugitivos é analisada; mostrando que a geração de elétrons fugitivos somente pode ser explicada pelo mecanismo de avalanche. A confirmação de baixa temperatura do plasma é obtida de uma análise do perfil tomográfico da emissão H-alfa. Esta emissão não pode ser explicada por excitação de elétrons no plasma. A recombinação, de outro lado, dá uma explicação plausível para a dependência temporal da emissão, em particular para alta densidade de partículas neutras. / A study of the tomography profile of the emission of the line of Hydrogen, atomic H-alpha line (?=656.28 nm), was carried out in TCABR, a medium-size tokamak in operation at the Laboratory of Plasma Physics of the Institute of Physics of the University of São Paulo. Our work focuses on the study of the effects of due to the introduction of a biased electrode in the plasma edge of the TCABR tokamak. The electrode could be introduced up to 1.5 cm inside the plasma, without plasma disruptions for positive voltages from 0 to +350V, and was located on the equatorial plane of the plasma column. Tomography profiles of H-alpha with and without bias were measured. Comparison of the profiles shows an increase of the central line-averaged density, while the emissivity of the line H-alpha decreases. The analysis of the tomography profiles of H-alpha, time of confinement of particles and also the study of recycling of the neutral particles, indicate that the confined plasma enters the H-mode regime. Calculations of turbulence and transport at the Scrape-Off-Layer, using measured floating potentials and ion saturation currents, show a strong decrease in the power spectra and transport. The H-alpha tomography was also employed to study the new regime of runaway discharges that has been discovered in the TCABR tokamak. The distinctive features of this regime are weakly ionized low-temperature plasma detached from the limiter due to the recombination process, and a relaxation instability with strong spikes of H-alpha emission correlated with sawtooth relaxation of the line density. In the present thesis we report experimental data on conditions for generation of these discharges. The runaway electron production is analyzed; show that generation of runaway electrons can only be explained by the runaway avalanche mechanism. The confirmation of low plasma temperature is a obtained from an analysis of the tomography profile of H-alpha emission. This emission cannot be explained by excitation by plasma electrons. Recombination, on the other hand, gives a rather plausible explanation for the time dependency of the emission, in particular at high neutral densities.

A determinação precisa e rápida das configurações de equilíbrio Magnetohidrodinâmico (MHD) em tokamaks é de fundamental importância para o confinamento magnético do plasma. Através do conhecimento dos parâmetros que caracterizam este equilíbrio MHD é possível controlar o plasma durante a sua formação por processos de realimentação. Uma análise mais detalhada destes parâmetros é necessária, também, entre um disparo e outro, para a estruturação do experimento. Neste trabalho é investigada a reconstrução das configurações de equilíbrio MHD no tokamak TCA/BR a partir de medidas magnéticas externas, utilizando um método que permite uma rápida determinação dos parâmetros principais da descarga. A tese divide-se em duas partes. Na primeira, é apresentada a construção de um código de equilíbrio que resolve a equação de Grad-Shafranov para a configuração geométrica que caracteriza o tokamak TCA/BR. Na segunda, é descrito o processo de reconstrução do equilíbrio MHD através de medidas de campos e fluxos magnéticos externos ao plasma no TCA/BR, e utilizando o método de Função de Parametrização FP. Este método baseia-se no tratamento estatístico de um banco de dados simulados de configurações de equilíbrio, com o objetivo de obter uma expressão simples relacionando os parâmetros que caracterizam o equilíbrio e as medidas realizadas. Os resultados obtidos através da FP são comparados com os obtidos através de outros métodos convencionais. / The accurate and rapid determination of the Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium configuration in tokamaks is a fundamental subject for the magnetic confinement of the plasma. With the knowledge of characteristic plasma MHD equilibrium parameters it is possible to control the plasma position during its formation using feed-back techniques. It is also necessary an on-line analysis between successive discharges to program external parameters for the subsequent discharges. In this work it is investigated the MHD equilibrium configuration reconstruction of the TCA/BR tokamak from external magnetic measurements, using a method that is able to determine fastly the main parameters of discharge. The thesis has two parts. Firstly it is presented the development of an equilibrium co de that solves de Grad-Shafranov equation for the TCA/BR tokamak geometry. Secondly it is presented the MHD equilibrium reconstruction process from external magnetic field and flux measurements using the Function Parametrization FP method. This method is based on the statistical analysis of a database of simulated equilibrium configurations, with the goal of obtaining a simple relationship between the parameters that characterize the equilibrium and the measurements. The results from FP are compared with conventional methods.

Os resultados de uma extensa campanha experimental, realizada no tokamak TCABR, para se investigar a física das ondas de Alfvén e suas aplicações para o aquecimento de plasmas em tokamaks são apresentados. Ao longo das investigações, foram testados dois tipos de antena, tendo sido observado aquecimento considerável do plasma com ambas, mesmo com valor moderado da potência RF injetada no plasma. Diversas configurações de excitação e diversas condições do plasma foram investigadas, e foi verificado que a escolha correta da helicidade da onda excitada PE crucial para se reduzir o acoplamento parasítico com o plasma periférico. Também foi verificada a importância de uma limpeza periódica da superfície das antenas, realizada durante as descargas de limpeza do tokamak, para melhorar o desempenho dos experimentos com aquecimento por ondas de Alfvén. Com a antena original, que produz um espectro poloidal bastante selecionado, a tensão de polarização dinâmica induzida nas antenas observada durante os experimentos era alta, aumentando a taxa de sputtering em seus elementos e podendo, inclusive, levar à disruptura do plasma em potêncis RF mais elevadas. Com o novo tipo de antena, projetado com dimensões poloidais reduzidas, a tensão de polarização induzida caiu pela metade. No entanto, o acoplamento parasítico com a borda do plasma aumentou, como foi indicado por maiores perturbações observadas nos potenciais do SOL, nesse caso. Ademais, a taxa de injeção/ionização de impurezas parece ser maior do que a observada com a antena original em condições semelhantes, como foi indicado pór um aumento maior no sinal do bolômetro durante o pulso RF e por medidas de espectroscopia. Esses fatos sugerem que o espectro excitado pela antena nova é menos seletivo quanto à componente poloidal M, e os modos eletrostáticos devem estar sendo excitados com amplitude considerável. As modificações causadas pela absorção das ondas de Alfvén no perfil radial da temperatura eletrônica do plasma puderam ser estudadas com um radiômetro heteródino de varredura ECE. Esses estudos nos permitiram determinar experimentalmente os perfis radiais de deposição de potência RF no plasma, que estão em surpreendente concordância com os perfis de deposição de potência RF no plasma, que estão surpreendente concordância com os perfis de deposição teóricos, calculados com um código cinético-toroidal para as condições típicas do TCABR. Esses resultados são inéditos em pesquisas com ondas de Alfvén, e reforçam a sua utilização para aquecimento localizado de plasmas e controle de fluxos cizalhados em tokamaks. / The results of na extensive experimental campaign performed in the TCABR tokamak to investigate the Physics of the Alfvén wave and its application to tokamak plasma heating are presented. In the course of the experiments, Téo types of Alfvén Wave antennae were studied, and considerable plasma heating was observed in both cases, even with rather small amount of RF Power injected in the plasma. Many antennae configurations and plasma conditions were tried out, and it was verified that the correct choice of the helicity of the excited wave is crucial to reduce the parasitic coupling with the edge plasma. It was also noticed that periodic conditioning of the antenna surface, performed together with the daily tokamak cleaning discharges, also contributes to improve the performance of the heating experiments. With the first antenna type, which produced a rather well defined poloidal spectrum, the dynamic polarication voltage induced in the antennae during the RF experiments was high, causing increased sputtering of its elements and, for higher RF powr input, even plasma disruptions. With the new antenna type, designed with smaller poloidal dimensions, the dynamic polarization voltage of the antenna was reduced twice. However the parasitic coupling with the plasma hás increased, as indicated by stronger perturbations of the electrostatic potentials in the scrape-off layer observed in this case. In addition, the impurity injection/ionization rate also seems to have increased with respect to the previous antenna type in approximately the same conditions, as indicated by a stronger rise in the bolometer signal observed during the RF pulse, and by spectroscopic measurements. These facts suggest that, with the new antenna type, the excited wave spectrum is rather broad with respect to the poloidal wave number M, and electrostatic modes must be excited with quite high amplitude. The change in the radial profiles of the electron temperature due to the Alfvén wave absorption could be studied with a heterodyne sweping ECE radiometer. These sutidies allowed us to determine experimentally the RF Power deposition profiles inside the plasma, which were in surprisingly good agreement with the theoretical deposition profiles, calculated with a kinetic-toroidal code for the TCABR plasma conditions. These results are unprecedented in experimental Alfvén wave research, and strengthen the use of these waves for localized plasma heating and shear flow control in tokamaks.

The role of cross field transport and volume recombination are of vital importance for a satisfactory understanding of the plasma edge in magnetically confined devices such as a Tokamak. Plasma fluctuations may travel cross field with significant velocities and play a central role in plasma transport. Cross field transport has been seen to be anomalous in most devices under a very broad range of experimental conditions. In recent years a clear indication of the relation between fluctuation, cross field particle transport and recombination has been reported.The University of Manchester Linear System (the ULS) has been used to observe the Balmer emission of the recombining plasma interacting with a dense neutral Hydrogen gas. The ULS is a device made of a cylindrical vacuum vessel 1.5 m long and 15 cm in radius. The plasma is formed in a separate chamber by a duoplasmatron source in the Demirkhanov configuration; the arc current was limited to 15 A and the potential drop was 100 V. The device is surrounded by a linear solenoid which was used to magnetize the plasma. The highest magnetic field was .1 T. Typical electron temperature in the device spans .1 to 10 eV, and the density 1. E+16 to 5. E+19.Diagnostic includes Langmuir probe and visible spectrometers. In addition, the DivCam imaging system originally designed and built to obtain 2D images of the MAST spherical Tokamak Scrape Off Layer, was used. The DivCam imaging system has enabled to obtain high resolution images of the plasma emission when interacting with the neutral gas. It appears evident that the Electron-Ion Recombination is strongly dependent upon radial transport of plasma particles: light emission attributed to EIR is only observed at a large cross field distance from the plasma source. Moreover, fast imaging of the plasma has also shown the presence of a plasma filament forming and propagating crossfield at the same region of the plasma where the EIR light is observed.To interpret the experimental observations obtained with DivCam, the OSM 1D fluid plasma solver and the EIRENE neutral Monte Carlo solver have been implemented in the linear geometry of the ULS linear system. Both the OSM and the EIRENE solvers were originally intended for tokamak and large magnetic confinement devices. Modelling of the EIR emissivity in the ULS device has demonstrated the importance of the inclusion of turbulent and blob transport in the model to obtain reasonable agreement between the observations and the theoretical predictions. The central density of the plasma filament has been estimated to be approximately .7 E+19 m-3 using EIRENE results.The emission attributed to hydrogenic ions (negative atomic H- and positive molecular ions H2+) and related to Molecular Assisted Recombinations can be estimated within EIRENE using the AMJUEL database. The database provides ion population estimations for three different collisional regimes: in the first regime a large population of vibrational excited hydrogen molecules are assumed to exist within the plasma volume; the second assumes strong Charge Exchange reactions and not vibrational excited molecule; the third assumes electron impact collisions with ground states molecule to be the only ion source. A reasonable agreement between the observations and the EIRENE prediction is only found when using the third estimation suggesting that molecular excitation and charge exchange processes are relatively unimportant under the experimental conditions considered.

An important part of the fusion research program is to understand and control the large number of plasma instabilities that a fusion plasma can exhibit. One such instability is known as the “sawtooth” instability, which is a perturbation in the plasma electric and magnetic fields that manifests itself as periodic relaxations of the temperature and density in the plasma center. The aim of this project was to investigate how the fuel ions in a fusion plasma react to the sawtooth instability. We were able to implement a model of the plasma electromagnetic field during a sawtooth relaxation into an existing code that computes the orbits of the fuel ions in the tokamak magnetic field. To this end, it was necessary to modify the orbit code to allow for non-zero electric fields, and for time-varying fields. In order to validate the new additions to the code, we compared simulated results to analytical ones. The model of the sawtooth electromagnetic fields required for our simulations was set up within a different student project. However, due to unforeseen complications, only the magnetic (not the electric) field contribution was available to us during our project, but once the electric field is available it is straightforward to include in our code. Our simulations did not exhibit any noticeable perturbation to the particle orbit during a sawtooth crash. However, before the electric field contribution is included it is not possible to draw any physics conclusions from these results. Our code could also be used as a foundation for future projects since it is possible (with further implementations to the existing code) to simulate how the spatial profile of the neutron emission is expected to vary during the sawtooth. These simulations can be compared against experimental measurements of the neutron emission profile in order to investigate the accuracy of the sawtooth model under consideration.

The aim of the project is to investigate the characteristics and causes of two different types of bow shocks at Mars. We define Type 1 as an undefined, drawn out ramp, and Type 2 as a shorter duration ramp that has clearer characteristics and behaves more like a step increase in the magnetic field. A total of forty five events of the two different types were investigated using data from 2014-2015 from NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. The Power Spectral Density of the magnetic field is calculated for downstream/ramp/upstream intervals. The normal is calculated with a mixed-mode coplanarity model. Proton, alpha particle and atomic oxygen density are also calculated. Results show higher frequencies for nose events of Type 1, and lower for flank events of Type 1. No such pattern can be seen in Type 2 events. Proton and alpha-particles are shown to be shocked, and their densities are slightly higher at the flanks as compared to the nose of the bow shock. Atomic oxygen density stays constant before and after the bow shock, likely due to the fact that the oxygen originates mostly from the exosphere rather than from the solar wind. Ion densities seem not to be affected by whether the event is Type 1 or 2.

<p>This article-based dissertation provides a review on the broad subject of magnetars-their characteristics, giant flares (GFs) and associated observations of X-ray, gamma-ray, and radio emissions and their proposed physical mechanisms. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to provide an extensive description of the two research projects I undertook during my tenure as a Graduate Research Assistant, under the guidance of my advisor. Broadly, my research was focused on building analytical models and running three-dimensional (3-D), high-resolution magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations using the astrophysical PLUTO code to investigate the physical mechanisms behind high-energy (X-ray and gamma-ray) and radio emissions associated with magnetar GFs using observational constraints. This, in turn, aided in either validating or disfavoring existing theories behind such energetic explosions.</p><p>Chapter 1 provides a review on magnetars, their GFs and associated high-energy and radio emissions, largely based on excellent reviews by [1]–[5]. I summarize interesting observational features of magnetars, specifically those of soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs), along with known aspects of their X-ray and gamma-ray activity. I focus on the December 27, 2004 GF emitted by SGR 1806-20, the most energetic GF out of the three that occurred to date, describe its energetics and summarize existing theories behind the physical mechanisms that give rise to two emission characteristics associated with the GF - (i) quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) seen in the tail, and (ii) a radio afterglow detected a week after the GF. Lastly, I describe the methods I used to hypothesize the physical mechanisms behind QPOs and the radio emission and compare and contrast them with those suggested previously.</p><p>In chapter 2, I present a version of the research article in preparation and pending publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The work titled “Radio afterglow of magnetars’ giant flares”, undertaken under the supervision of Dr. Maxim Lyutikov and in collaboration with Dr. Maxim Barkov, explores the possible physical mechanisms behind the radio afterglow associated with the SGR 1806-20 GF using high-resolution 3-D MHD simulations.</p><p>In chapter 3, I present a version of the research article previously published by the Journal of Plasma Physics. The work titled “Tilting instability of magnetically confined spheromaks”, undertaken under the supervision of Dr. Maxim Lyutikov, in collaboration with Dr. Lorenzo Sironi and Dr. Maxim Barkov, investigates the tilting instability of a magnetically confined spheromak using 3-D MHD and relativistic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations with an application to astrophysical plasmas, specifically to explain the QPOs arising in the tail of the SGR 1806-20 GF.</p><p>I summarize the main results and conclusions of the two research projects and describe future prospects in chapter 4, followed by appendices A and B which describe additional theoretical concepts and simulation results for a better understanding of the nature of radio afterglows associated with GFs, and structure of spheromaks. References are compiled after the appendices in order that they are first cited, followed by a brief autobiographical sketch, and a list of publications.<br></p>