Recent research has suggested that plasma turbulence and the associated transport of particles may also be consistent with a state of self-organized criticality (SOC). However, unambiguous identification of an SOC state for turbulence in plasmas has not been made, and existing evidence remains primarily suggestive. The universality of SOC-like systems, the ability to explain non-local phenomena and their independence of detailed mode characteristics motivate the current research effort. The primary goal of the project is to search for long-range correlation of turbulent transport events and to contrast and compare in detail experimental measurements with the predictions of complex dynamic theory. The work will be performed by a combined theoretical and experimental team, with experiments being carried out on the new Large Plasma Device under construction at the University of California, Los Angeles.
