Recent research topics in plasma turbulence and induced transport

Turbulence induced transport is one of the most challenging scientific topics in magnetically confined plasmas. We lack a systematic theory and we have been exploring this topic from several perspectives.
One approach is the study of the topological structures of the plasma flow and relate them to the statistical properties of particle tracers in the plasma. This an ongoing study.
In parallel we have developed multi-scale numerical schemes that allows us to do turbulence calculations over transport time scales. This tools can be used in studying issues as the transition from low to high confinement regimes.
These transition mechanisms are based on the interaction between turbulence and flows. Questions are raised over the role of magnetic versus electrostatic turbulence. Magnetic islands seem to play an important role in locating transport barriers in stellarator. We have developed approaches to identify the location of magnetic island in the plasma. We also have developed tools to identify causality relations at the transitions based on experimental measurements.
I will be discussing some of the most recent results that we have obtained in these areas.