Transport processes in reversed-field-pinch plasmas: inconsistency with the self-organized-criticality paradigm

Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Jul 23;87(4):045001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.045001. Epub 2001 Jul 5.

Abstract

A statistical analysis of the anomalous particle flux in the edge region of the RFX experiment has revealed that laminar times between bursts, which account for more than 50% of the losses, have a power law distribution and that flux fluctuations are not self-similar. These properties are found in contrast with a wide class of self-organized-criticality models so that it is concluded that there is no experimental evidence of avalanchelike process occurrence in the plasma of RFX.