This proposal requests funds to permit Dr. Wendell Horton, Professor of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, to pursue with Dr. Duk-In Choi, Professor of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), for a period of 24 months, a program of cooperative research on the basic theoretical physics aspects of plasma dynamics. This research will deal especially with the effect of small scale fluctuations of the drift wave type on the magnetic confinement of plasmas. The researchers will use analytic theory and numerical simulations to determine the nature of the electron and ion particle transport in the system. The role of the electron temperature gradient in driving short wavelength magnetic fluctuations will be emphasized. The research is directly motivated by unresolved issues in the controlled fusion program, but results of the research will be relevant to basic processes occurring in stellar, magnetospheric, and astrophysical plasmas. The U.S. and Korean collaborators are highly respected scientists who not only have extensive research experience and productive publication records in the field of the proposal but also have produced more than 20 joint publications from past collaboration which includes collaboration under NSF Grant No. INT-8617403. This project is relevant to the objectives of the U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. and Korean scientists and engineers through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit. Korean participation in the project is supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF).
