Electrodynamics and Plasma Physics

Computational modeling of wave propagation in plasma physics over the Gilson–Pickering equation

II Conference on Plasma and Laser Research and Technologies took place on January 25th until January 27th, 2016 at National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI” (NRNU MEPhI). It was organized by the Institute of Laser and Plasma Technologies and was supported by the Competitiveness Program of NRNU MEPhI.The Conference consisted of four sections: Plasma physics and controlled nuclear fusion, Laser physics, Modern aspects of solid state matter physics and Charged particle accelerators. The Conference provided participants an opportunity to present their research results for the consideration of a wide audience from the sidelines of science.The main topics of the Conference were:• Controlled nuclear fusion with magnetic and inertial confinement;• Low-temperature plasma and its application in modern technology;• Laser physics and technologies for industry, environmental control and precise measurements;• Optical information control, holography, spintronics and photonics;• Modern aspects of solid state matter physics and nanophysics;• Charged particle accelerators.More than 200 specialists on plasma, laser and solid state physics took part in the II Conference. They represented leading Russian scientific research centres and universities (such as Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Thermonuclear Research, Institute of Crystallography, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry and others) and universities from Belarus, Ukraine, Germany, USA, Canada, Belgium, and Sweden.All report presentations were broadcasted online on the NRNU MEPhI official site. The translation was watched by viewers from Moscow, Prague, St. Petersburgh and other cities, who could not attend the Conference.We would like to thank heartily all of the speakers, participants and organizing committee members for their contribution to the conference.

The 13th International Congress on Plasma Physics (ICPP 2006) was organized, on behalf of the International Advisory Committee of the ICPP series, by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics (BITP) and held in Kiev, Ukraine, 22–26 May 2006. The Congress Program included the topics: fundamental problems of plasma physics; fusion plasmas; plasmas in astrophysics and space physics; plasmas in applications and technologies; complex plasmas.A total of 305 delegates from 30 countries took part in the Congress. The program included 9 invited review lectures, 32 invited topical and 313 contributed papers (60 of which were selected for oral presentation).The Congress Program was the responsibility of the International Program Committee:Anatoly Zagorodny (Chairman) Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, Ukraine Olha Kocherga (Scientific Secretary) Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, UkraineBoris Breizman The University of Texas at Austin, USAIver Cairns School of Physics, University of Sydney, AustraliaTatiana Davydova Institute for Nuclear Research, UkraineTony Donne FOM-Institute for Plasma Physics, Rijnhuizen, The NetherlandsNikolai S Erokhin Space Research Institute of RAS, RussiaXavier Garbet CEA, FranceValery Godyak OSRAM SYLVANIA, USAKatsumi Ida National Institute for Fusion Science, JapanAlexander Kingsep Russian Research Centre `Kurchatov Institute', RussiaE P Kruglyakov Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, RussiaGregor Morfill Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, GermanyOsamu Motojima National Institute for Fusion Science, JapanJef Ongena ERM-KMS, Brussels and EFDA-JET, UKKonstantyn Shamrai Institute for Nuclear Research, UkraineRaghvendra Singh Institute for Plasma Research, IndiaKonstantyn Stepanov Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, UkraineMasayoshi Tanaka National Institute for Fusion Science, JapanNodar Tsintsadze Physics Institute, GeorgiaThe four-page texts of the contributed papers are presented as a CD, `ICPP 2006. Contributed Papers' which was distributed among the delegates. They are also available at the Congress website http://icpp2006.kiev.ua. A major part of the review and topical lectures is published in this special issue which has been sent to the Congress delegates.The papers were refereed to the usual high standard of the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion. The Guest Editors of the special issue are grateful to the Publishers for their cooperation.Recognizing the role of Professor Alexej Sitenko (12 February 1927–11 February 2002) in the initiation and organization of the International (Kiev) Conferences on Plasma Theory which, after having been combined with the International Congresses on Waves and Instabilities in Plasma in 1980, created the series of International Congresses on Plasma Physics, and taking into account the contribution of Professor Sitenko to the progress of plasma theory, the Program Committee decided to open ICPP 2006 with the Sitenko memorial lecture. This memorial lecture is available as supplementary data (PDF) at stacks.iop.org/PPCF/49/i=5A.

Since the process of energy production in the stars has been identified as the thermonuclear fusion, this mechanism has been proclaimed as a future, extremely modern, reliable and safe for sustaining energetic needs of the humankind. However, the idea itself was rather straightforward and the first attempts to harness thermonuclear reactions have been taken yet in 40s of the twentieth century, it quickly appeared that physical and technical problems of domesticating exotic high temperature medium known as plasma are far from being trivial. Though technical developments as lasers, superconductors or advanced semiconductor electronics and computers gave significant contribution for the development of the thermonuclear fusion reactors, for a very long time their efficient performance was out of reach of technology. Years of the scientific progress brought the conclusions that for the development of the thermonuclear power plants an enormous interdisciplinary effort is needed in many fields of science covering not only plasma physics but also material research, superconductors, lasers, advanced diagnostic systems (e.g. spectroscopy, interferometry, scattering techniques, etc.) with huge amounts of data to be processed, cryogenics, measurement-control systems, automatics, robotics, nanotechnology, etc. Due to the sophistication of the problems with plasma control and plasma material interactions only such a combination of the research effort can give a positive output which can assure the energy needs of our civilization. In this paper the problems of thermonuclear technology are briefly outlined and it is shown why this domain can be a broad field for the experts dealing with electronics, optoelectronics, programming and numerical simulations, who at first glance can have nothing common with the plasma or nuclear physics.

Bilinear auto-Bäcklund transformation, soliton and periodic-wave solutions for a (2+1)-dimensional generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili system in fluid mechanics and plasma physics

The beginning of the year 2017 has brought about several important changes for Contributions to Plasma Physics (CPP). The most important one is the retirement of Prof. Thomas Klinger (IPP Greifswald) from the editorial board. Our journal and the other editors owe him special thanks. Thomas served on the editorial board since 2004. During this time, together with Karl-Heinz Spatschek, he managed to maintain high quality standards. He also supported the concentration of the journal on key topics in plasma physics where CPP remains to be among the best addresses: non-ideal and strongly correlated plasmas, gas discharges, low-temperature plasmas, dusty plasmas, plasma diagnostics, plasma medicine and plasma technology. Thomas continued to develop the good ties into the fusion and plasma wall interaction communities and attracted excellent authors and conference proceedings. Even though Thomas Klinger has left our editorial board he will remain close to CPP—the journal has offered him to join the Honorary Advisory Board. The editors would also like to thank Ms. Marlies Dewitz for her dedication in serving our journal. She has been responsible for the typesetting and the preparation of the published issues since December 2003, and ensured a consistent layout of the papers according to the design guidelines of our journal. We are glad to announce that, as of January 1st, 2017, Prof. Bernhard Unterberg from Forschungszentrum Jülich has agreed to join our editorial board. He is now in charge of fusion-related articles, with a focus on plasma–wall interaction and plasma diagnostics. Thus CPP continues to work with a strong board of editors and associated editors. This editorial work has been very successful, leading to an increased quality of published articles. This positive trend is also visible in an increase of our impact factor to 1.255 in 2015; a further increase is expected for 2016 which positions CPP in the upper half of plasma physics journals. We will continue to increase our quality requirements for articles—authors must convincingly demonstrate that their paper advances plasma physics. A substantial fraction of submissions has to be rejected without review. A special benefit for authors is the rapid manuscript handling and the short time until online publication. Also, a list of the most highly cited papers for the most recent years is now available on the CPP home page. CPP continues its close ties to the German Plasma Physics communities. As in the previous years, CPP will fund prizes for the best posters at the annual DPG conference and publish invited talks which—if submitted on time—are made freely accessible. Finally, we are pleased to introduce a new layout of the online published contributions—starting with this issue. The appearance has been freshened up to allow for a modern presentation using html-features with their immense potential of data handling. The most striking feature is the direct linking to the references given in the papers. We hope that the design will make the publications more reader-friendly and welcome any suggestions or feedback you may have on improving the online presentation. Michael Bonitz, for the editors

20 - 24 May 1996 12th International Conference on Plasma Surface Interactions in Controlled Fusion Devices Saint Raphael, France Contact: PSI 96 c/o Ms V Poli, Association EURATOM-CEA sur la Fusion, DRFC/SPPF, Centre d'Etudes de Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance Cedex, France. Tel +33-42-25-62-60, Fax +33-42-25-62-55, E-mail psi96@drfc.cad.cea.fr. 3 - 5 June 1996 7th International Conference on Plasma Science Boston, MA, USA Contact: M Silevitch, ECE Department, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. 24 - 28 June 1996 23rd European Physical Society Conference on Controlled Fusion and Plasma Physics Kiev, Ukraine Contact: Dr Ihor Goutych, Scientific Secretary, 23rd EPS CFPP, Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, 252143 Kiev, Ukraine. Tel +38-044-2665362, Fax +38-044-2665998, E-mail cfpp@gluk.apc.org. 8 - 19 July 1996 33rd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School (UKAEA/Euratom) Oxford, UK Contact: Mrs J Bright, UKAEA Fusion, Culham, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 3DB, UK. Tel +44-1235-463773, Fax +44-1235-463474, E-mail julie.bright@ukaea.org.uk. 8 - 18 August 1996 International Summer School on Plasma Physics and Technology La Jolla, CA, USA Contact: Mr V Stefan, Institute for Advanced Physics Studies, PO Box 2964, La Jolla, CA 92038, USA. Tel +1-619-456-5737. 26 - 30 August 1996 Joint Varenna - Lausanne International Workshop on Theory of Fusion Plasmas Villa Monastero, Varenna, Italy Contact: Centro di Cultura Villa Monastero, 1 Piazza Venini, 22050 Varenna (Lecco), Italy. Tel +39-341-831261, Fax +39-341-831281. Application and abstract deadline: 15 June 1996. 2 - 5 September 1996 EU - US Workshop on Transport in Fusion Plasmas Villa Monastero, Varenna, Italy Further information: G Gorini, ISPP, 16 Via Celoria, I-20133 Milano, Italy. Tel +39-2-2392637, Fax +39-2-2392205, E-mail ggorini@mi.infn.it. Administrative contact: Centro di Cultura Villa Monastero, 1 Piazza Venini, 22050 Varenna (Lecco), Italy. Tel +39-341-831261, Fax +39-341-831281. Application and abstract deadline: 15 June 1996. 9 - 13 September 1996 International Conference on Plasma Physics Nagoya, Japan Contact: Conference Secretariat, c/o Prof. Hiromu Momota, National Institute for Fusion Science, Nagoya 464-01, Japan. Tel +81-52-789-4260, Fax +81-52-789-1037, E-mail icpp96@nifs.ac.jp. deadline: 31 March 1996. 16 - 20 September 1996 19th Symposium on Fusion Technology Lisbon, Portugal Contact: Professor Carlos Varandas, Centro de Fusão Nuclear, 1096 Lisboa Codex, Portugal. Fax +351-1-8417819, E-mail cvarandas@cfn.ist.utl.pt. General information will be available via WWW with URL http://www.cfn.ist.utl.pt. 25 - 29 September 1996 Summer University of Plasma Physics Garching, Germany Contact: Ms Ch Stahlberg, Max-Planck-Institut für PlasmaPhysik, Boltzmannstr 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany. Tel +49-89-3299-2232, Fax +49-89-3299-1001. 2 - 4 October 1996 6th European Conference on Fusion Theory Utrecht, The Netherlands Contact: T J Schep, FOM - Institute for Plasma Physics, Postbus 1207, NL-3430 BE Nieuwegein, Netherlands. Tel +31-3402-312-24. 6 - 11 April 1997 10th Joint Workshop on Electron Cyclotron Emission and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating Ameland, The Netherlands Contact: J Hamers-Smit, FOM - Instituut voor Plasmafysica `Rijnhuizen', Postbus 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein. Tel +31-30-6096999, Fax +31-30-6031204, E-mail ec10@rijnh.nl. Application and abstract deadline: 17 January 1997. 8 - 12 September 1997 12th International Conference on Gas Discharges and their Applications Greifswald, Germany Contact: Dr G Babucke, Inst. f. Niedertemperatur-Plasmaphysik, Robert-Blum-Str. 8 - 10, 17489 Greifswald, Germany. Tel +49-3834-554411, Fax +49-3834-554301, E-mail gd97@public.inp.uni-greifswald.de.

Study of the dynamical nonlinear modified Korteweg–de Vries equation arising in plasma physics and its analytical wave solutions

Professor Vitaly D Shafranov is widely known as one of the acknowledged leaders of the world's scientific community in plasma physics and controlled fusion. His theoretical research on plasma equilibrium and stability made an outstanding contribution to the physics of magnetically confined toroidal plasmas which plays a decisive role for the problem of magnetic fusion.

The Third International Workshop & Summer School on Plasma Physics (IWSSPP'08) organized by St Kliment Ohridsky University of Sofia, with co-organizers TCPA Foundation, Association EURATOM/IRNRE, The Union of the Physicists in Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was held in Kiten, Bulgaria, at the Black Sea Coast, from 30 June to 5 July 2008. A Special Session on Plasmas for Environmental Issues was co-organised by the Institute of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion, Lisbon, Portugal and the Laboratory of Plasmas and Energy Conversion, University of Toulouse, France. That puts the beginning of a series in Workshops on Plasmas for Environmental Issues, now as a satellite meeting of the European Physical Society Conference on Plasma Physics. As the previous issues of this scientific meeting (IWSSPP'05, J. Phys.: Conf. Series 44 (2006) and IWSSPP'06, J. Phys.: Conf. Series 63 (2007)), its aim was to stimulate the creation and support of a new generation of young scientists for further development of plasma physics fundamentals and applications, as well as to ensure an interdisciplinary exchange of views and initiate possible collaborations by bringing together scientists from various branches of plasma physics. This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series includes 38 papers (invited lectures, contributed talks and posters) devoted to various branches of plasma physics, among them fusion plasma and materials, dc and microwave discharge modelling, transport phenomena in gas discharge plasmas, plasma diagnostics, cross sections and rate constants of elementary processes, material processing, plasma-chemistry and technology. Some of them have been presented by internationally known and recognized specialists in their fields; others are MSc or PhD students' first steps in science. In both cases, we believe they will raise readers' interest. We would like to thank the members of both the International Advisory Committee and the Local Organizing Committee, the participants who sent their manuscripts and passed through the (sometimes heavy and troublesome) refereeing and editing procedure and our referees for their patience and considerable effort to improve the manuscripts. We greatly appreciate the financial support from the sponsors: the Department for Language Teaching and International Students at the University of Sofia, the Austrian Science and Research Liason Offices and the Bulgarian Nuclear Society. We would like to express our gratitude to the invited lecturers who were willing to pay the participation fee. In this way, in addition to the intellectual support they provided by means of their excellent lectures, they also supported the school financially. E Benova, F M Dias and Yu Lebedev

A plasma consists of charged particles moving relatively freely, but interacting through the electric and magnetic fields produced by each particle. It is well known that all except a very small (but nevertheless important) fraction of the detectable universe is a plasma. Most plasma physics can be expressed in terms of five fairly straightforward equations, the four Maxwell equations for electromagnetism and the equation of motion for charged particles in electromagnetic fields. Why then is plasma physics such a mathematically difficult subject and why is numerical simulation so important? The most basic reason is that any experimental plasma contains a very large number of particles, 1018–1020 in a typical fusion experiment. Moreover, particles in plasmas have a tendancy to act independently of each other. In conventional hydrodynamics, large numbers of particles can be described by a few simple numbers such as their temperature, density and mean velocity. Sometimes we can do this with a plasma but even then we have a few more numbers to include such as current and charge density, along with the electromagnetic fields. More usually, plasmas are not so simply described. Plasmas are not usually Maxwellian and we have to think in terms of distribution functions in phase space. Whenever we can, we model the non—Maxwellian nature of the plasma by transport models, e.g. for heat flow, but this is a specialised skill in itself. When one considers that conventional hydrodynamics is very complex and involves advanced numerical simulation, it is hardly surprising that simulation plays such an important role in plasma physics.

Anyone who has taught an introductory course in space physics faces an insolvable dilemma. Space physics is the common name for the physics of the plasma regions in the solar system. The dilemma is, do you introduce the topics in plasma physics in an ordered progression and illustrate them with examples drawn from the solar system, in which case you are teaching a course in plasma physics with applications to the solar system? Or do you describe the various regions and environments found in the solar system in a coherent order and introduce the plasma physics as it is needed, in which case you are teaching a course in geophysics? I have tried both approaches, and neither works well. The first approach gives students an understanding of plasma physics and its hierarchy of approximations, but they usually do not get a coherent understanding of geospace. The second approach gives students a good grasp of the Sun/solar wind/magnetosphere/ionosphere as a single complex system, but they invariably end up with a poorer grasp of what physics applies in various situations. For programs that can accommodate it, two separate courses is clearly the best approach. Not all programs have that luxury.

Over a nearly 50 year career in plasma physics, spanning 1971–2020, Noah Hershkowitz designed many creative experiments that led to important contributions to plasma physics. He lived the mantra that a person who enjoys what they do will never have to work a day in their life. Noah loved plasma science. His interest was broad, encompassing fusion, low temperature, and basic plasma physics. This retrospective review discusses some highlights of his impactful contributions, focusing on diagnostics, sheath physics, and magnetic confinement for both low temperature plasma physics applications (especially cusp configurations) and fusion applications (tandem mirrors, especially axisymmetric configurations).

The 16th version of the Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (LAWPP 2017) took place at the main campus of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, on September 4, 2017—September 8, 2017, organized by the Sociedad Mexicana de Fisica Division of Plasma Physics. This was the third time LAWPP was held in Mexico, following those in 1992 and 2005. The main mission of this series of meetings is to promote plasma physics in the region, providing a proper forum, as well as collaborations between scientists within Latin America, and broadly across the world. However, while it is a regional event in nature, it fulfilled its objective of bringing in an important international undertone. Furthermore, a wide range of topics were covered, in the fields of space and astrophysical plasmas, controlled nuclear fusion, laser-produced plasmas, dense magnetized plasmas, and industrial and environmental applications of plasmas.

Of current interest, the paper commented [i.e., Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2020) 135:272] has investigated the $$(3+1)$$ -dimensional generalized Konopelchenko-Dubrovsky-Kaup-Kupershmidt equation in ocean dynamics, fluid mechanics and plasma physics. However, the story that the paper commented has caused could be made more complete. Hereby, for the same equation, via the Bell polynomials, we work out the same bilinear form as that in the paper commented, but the ways of derivation are different. With symbolic computation, we also construct two auto-Backlund transformations for the same equation with some solitons. Our results are with respect to the amplitude or elevation of the relevant wave in ocean dynamics, fluid mechanics and plasma physics.