The role of drifts in the plasma transport at the tokamak core–SOL interface

The interface between the core (inside the magnetic separatrix in X-point configurations) and the scrape-off layer (SOL) of tokamaks is a delicate region of the magnetic topology transition from closed to open field lines where neither the standard neoclassical theory nor the SOL physics fully apply. Sharp gradients of plasma parameters in the outer core, caused by the proximity of divertor sinks in the near SOL, invalidate some ordering assumptions of the neoclassical theory. At the same time, the existence of closed flux surfaces in the core enforces ambipolarity of radial plasma flows, in difference to the situation in the SOL where the current loop may close through the divertor. Detailed analysis of the plasma transport and flows with the emphasis on the outer core region, just inside the separatrix, is carried out in the paper, based on EDGE2D modelling and analytical formulas.