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peter-j-catto
Peter J. Catto
Senior Research Scientist
catto@psfc.mit.edu
617-253-5825
NW16-250
Education

Ph.D., Yale University, Department of Engineering and Applied Science (1972)
M.S. and B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Electrical Engineering (1967)
A.S., Wentworth Institute, Mechanical (1962)

Expertise

Kinetic theory of plasmas; gyrokinetics and neoclassical transport in the core of tokamaks and stellarators; neoclassical transport in the pedestal of a tokamak.

Theoretical plasma physicist with research experience in tokamak, dipole, mirror, and bumpy torus magnetic confinement devices and laser ignited fusion. My most recent re­search interests include electric fields, flows, and profile evolution in turbulent tokamaks; background ion and impurity behavior in the pedestal of diverted tokamak plasmas; gyrokinetic descriptions of the background ions in a tokamak pedestal; finite Larmor radius effects on the parallel current on a three dimensional rational surface; optimized stellarators; and gravitationally confined equilibria and their stability.

  • "A rotating and magnetized three-dimensional hot plasma equilibrium in a gravitational field" P. J. Catto and S. I. Krasheninnikov, J. Plasma Phys. 81, 105810301 (2015).
  • "High-m Kink/Tearing Modes in Cylindrical Geometry" J. W. Connor, R. J. Hastie, I. Pusztai, P. J. Catto and M. Barnes, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 56, 125006 (2014).
  • "Radially global f computation of neoclassical phenomena in a tokamak pedestal", M. Landreman, F. I. Parra, P. J. Catto, D. R. Ernst and I. Pusztai, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 56, 045005 (2014).
  • "A current driven electromagnetic mode in sheared and toroidal configurations", I. Pusztai, P. J. Catto, F. I. Parra and M. Barnes, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 56, 035011 and 129501 (2014).
  • "Conservation of energy and magnetic moment in neoclassical calculations for optimized stellarators", M. Landreman and P. J. Catto, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 55, 095017 (2013).
  • "Kinetic effects on a tokamak pedestal ion flow, ion heat transport, and bootstrap current", P. J. Catto, F. I. Parra, G. Kagan, J. B. Parker, I. Pusztai, M. Landreman, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 55, 045009 (2013).

Recent talks include a contributed presentation at the European Physical Society meeting in Lisbon (June 24, 2015) and a invited talk at the 8th Plasma Kinetics Working Group Meeting in Vienna (July 27, 2015). Both talks were on three-dimensional magnetized and rotating hot plasma equilibria confined by a gravitational field. In addition, he presented a tutorial on "Profile evolution and momentum transport in the core and pedestal" at the recent European Fusion Theory Conference in Lisbon (Oct. 5, 2015).