Thomas Sunn Pedersen, Associate Professor
Dept. of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics.
S.W. Mudd Room 204, Columbia University
500 W 120th St, New York, NY 10025
Email: tsp22@columbia.edu
Ph.D. Thesis entitled "Edge Plasma Phenomena in the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak Measured by High Resolution X-Ray Imaging Diagnostics". Thesis advisors Dr. Robert S. Granetz and Prof. Miklos Porkolab. Letter of Commendation for outstanding academic performance in 1996. GPA 5.0/5.0.
Thesis research in theoretical and computational
plasma physics focusing on a two-dimensional model for electrostatic turbulence
driven by a density gradient. M.Sc. Thesis "Numerical and Theoretical
investigations of Resistive Drift Wave Turbulence", advised by Dr. Poul K.
Michelsen. GPA 12.5/13
2005-present: Associate professor, Dept. of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
2000-2005: Assistant professor, Dept. of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Conducting research in the field of experimental plasma physics, including controlled thermonuclear fusion research, non-neutral plasmas, antimatter confinement, tokamak and stellarator confinement. Teaching graduate and undergraduate level classes, and advising Ph.D. students on their thesis research. Principal Investigator on the Columbia Non-neutral Torus, a novel stellarator experiment built to study non-neutral plasmas on magnetic surfaces.
February July 2000
Responsible for developing diagnostics, testing state of the art superconducting magnet, and designing parts of the superconducting magnet system of the levitated dipole experiment (LDX) at MIT. Research on hot plasma confinement in a dipole magnetic configuration.
Researcher in the field of computational and theoretical plasma physics, investigating the connection between particle dispersion, chaos (Lyapunov exponents) and the presence of coherent structures in the turbulent flow extending the work from my Masters thesis.
Enabled analysis of large amounts of experimental data from the Edge LIDAR Thomson Scattering Laser Diagnostic, by developing an automated analysis algorithm, which included a novel method for statistical smoothing of data. Implemented a new neural network analysis of diagnostic data, capable of deriving the electron temperature directly from the signals in the six spectral channels, facilitating real-time analysis of the data.
Numerical and theoretical Investigations of non-neutral and positron-electron plasma dynamics (Principal Investigator), National Science Foundation, (Aug 2006-Jul 2009), $300,000
High
Beta Tokamak Research (Co-investigator. Principal Investigator: Prof. G.
Navratil)
Department of Energy. (Nov. 2005-Nov. 2009), $3,706,446
CAREER: Physics of
non-neutral and electron-positron plasmas confined in the CNT stellarator
(Principal Investigator), National Science Foundation Division of Physics (Aug
2005-July 2010), $800,000
The Columbia
Non-neutral Torus (Principal Investigator), Junior Faculty Grant, United
States Department of Energy Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (Sep. 2002-Aug.
2005), $507,000
"High Beta
Tokamak Research" (Co-investigator. Principal Investigator: Prof. G.
Navratil)
Department
of Energy. (Nov. 2002-Nov. 2005), $2,850,000
Numerical and theoretical Investigations of non-neutral and positron-electron plasma dynamics (Principal Investigator), National Science Foundation, Aug 2003-Jul 2006, $300,000
Member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
International Ph.D. Fellowship from the Danish Research Academy, rhus, Denmark
Recipient of the Jorck Foundation Award (Denmark)
AP 3100 Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
AP 4301 Introduction to Plasma Physics
AP 6101 Plasma Physics 1
AP 9142 Applied Physics Seminar: Plasma Diagnostics
AP 9142 Applied Physics Seminar: Physics of Non-neutral Plasmas
Q. R. Marksteiner, T. Sunn Pedersen, J. W. Berkery, M. S. Hahn, J. M. Mendez, and H. Himura, Observations of an ion-driven instability in nonneutral plasmas confined on magnetic surfaces, accepted in Phys. Rev. Letters
B. Seiwald, V. V. Nemov, T. Sunn
Pedersen and W. Kernbichler, Studies of the neoclassical transport for CNT,
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 49,
p. 2063 (2007)
J.
W. Berkery, Q. Marksteiner, T. Sunn Pedersen, J. P. Kremer, "Ion
accumulation in an electron plasma confined on magnetic surfaces", Physics
of Plasmas 14, p.
084505 (2007)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, D. A. Maurer, J. Bialek, O. Katsuro-Hopkins, J. Hanson, M. E.
Mauel, R. James, A. Klein, Y. Liu, G. A. Navratil, Experiments and Modeling of
External Kink Mode Control Using Modular Internal Feedback Coils, Nuclear
Fusion 47, p. 1293
(2007)
J.
W. Berkery, T. Sunn Pedersen, J. P. Kremer,Q. R. Marksteiner, R. G. Lefrancois,
M. S. Hahn, P. W. Brenner, Confinement of pure electron plasmas in the
Columbia Non-neutral
Torus,
Phys. Plasmas 14,
062503 (2007)
J.
E. Rice, J. L. Terry, E. S. Marmar, R. S. Granetz, M. J. Greenwald, A. E.
Hubbard, J. H. Irby, S. M. Wolfe, T. Sunn Pedersen, Impurity Transport in
Alcator C-Mod Plasmas, Fusion Science and Technology 51, p. 357 (2007)
J.
Berkery, T. Sunn Pedersen and L. Sampedro, A retractable electron emitter for the
creation of unperturbed pure electron plasmas, Rev. Sci. Instruments 78, p. 013504 (2007)
J.
P. Kremer, T. Sunn Pedersen, Q. Marksteiner, R. G. Lefrancois, and M. Hahn,
Diagnosing pure-electron plasmas with internal particle flux probes, Rev.
Sci. Instruments. 78,
p. 013503 (2007)
R.
G. Lefrancois and T. Sunn Pedersen, Large density variation predicted along
magnetic axis for cold electron plasmas in the Columbia Non-neutral Torus
(CNT), Letter in Phys. Plasmas 13,
120702 (2006).
J.
P. Kremer, T. Sunn Pedersen, R. G. Lefrancois, Q. Marksteiner, Experimental
confirmation of stable, small-Debye-length, pure electron plasma equilibria in
a stellarator, Phys. Rev. Letters 97 095003 (2006)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, J. P. Kremer, R. G. Lefrancois, Q. Marksteiner, N. Pomphrey, W.
Reiersen, F. Dahlgren, X. Sarasola, Construction and initial operation of the
Columbia Non-neutral Torus, Fusion Science and Technology 50 p. 372 (2006)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, J. P. Kremer, R. G. Lefrancois, Q. Marksteiner, X. Sarasola, N.
Ahmad, Experimental demonstration of a compact stellarator magnetic trap using
four circular coils, Phys. Plasmas 13 012502 (2006)
M.
E. Mauel, J. Bialek, A. H. Boozer, C. Cates, R. James, O. Katsuro-Hopkins, A.
Klein, Y. Liu, D. A. Maurer, D. Maslovsky, G. A. Navratil, T. S. Pedersen, M.
Shilov, and N. Stillits, Dynamics and control of resistive wall modes with
magnetic feedback control coils: experiment and theory Nuclear Fusion 45, p 285-93 (2005)
R.G.
Lefrancois, T. Sunn Pedersen, A. H. Boozer, J. P. Kremer, Numerical
investigation of three-dimensional single-species plasma equilibria on magnetic
surfaces, Phys. Plasmas 12
072105 (2005)
A.
J. Klein, D. A. Maurer, T. Sunn Pedersen, M. E. Mauel, G. A. Navratil, C.
Cates, M. Shilov, Y. Liu, N. Stillits, and J. Bialek, Suppression of rotating external kink
instabilities using optimized mode control feedback, Letter in Phys. Plasmas 12 040703 (2005)
S.
F. Paul, C. J. Cates, M. E. Mauel, D. A. Maurer, G. A. Navratil, R. M Paul, T.
S. Pedersen, M. A. Shilov, High speed optical diagnostic that uses
interference filters to measure Doppler shifts, Rev. Sci. Instruments, 75, p. 4077 (2004)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, A.H. Boozer, J. P. Kremer, R. Lefrancois, F. Dahlgren, N.
Pomphrey, W. Reiersen, W. Dorland, The Columbia Non-neutral Torus: A new
experiment to confine non-neutral and positron-electron plasmas in a
stellarator, Fusion Science and Technology 46 p. 200 (2004)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, A. H. Boozer, J. P. Kremer, and R. Lefrancois, Confinement of
plasmas of arbitrary neutrality in a stellarator, Phys. Plasmas 11 p. 2377 (2004)
M.
Shilov, C. Cates, R. James, A. Klein, O. Katsuro-Hopkins, Y. Liu, M. E. Mauel,
D. A. Maurer, G. A. Navratil, T. S. Pedersen, N. Stillits, R. Fitzpatrick, and
S. F. Paul, "Dynamical plasma response of resistive wall modes to changing
external magnetic perturbations", Phys. Plasmas 11 p. 2573 (2004)
E.
S. Marmar et al. (T.
S. Pedersen), Overview of recent Alcator C-Mod research, Nuclear Fusion 43, p. 1610 (2003)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, A. H. Boozer, W. Dorland, J. P. Kremer, R. Schmitt,
"Prospects for the creation of positron-electron plasmas in a non-neutral
stellarator", J. Physics B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 36, p. 1029 (2003)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, "Numerical investigation of two-dimensional pure electron
plasma equilibria on magnetic surfaces", Phys. Plasmas 10, p. 334 (2003)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, R. S. Granetz, J.W. Hughes, I. H. Hutchinson, E. S. Marmar, D.
Mossessian, J.E. Rice, J. Terry, "Measurements of large poloidal variations
of impurity density in the Alcator C-Mod H-mode barrier region", Phys.
Plasmas 9, p. 4188
(2002)
T.
Sunn Pedersen and Allen H. Boozer, "Confinement of Nonneutral Plasmas on
Magnetic Surfaces ", Phys. Rev. Letters 88, p. 205002 (2002)
A.E.
Hubbard, R.L. Boivin, B.A. Carreras, R.S. Granetz, M. Greenwald, J.W. Hughes,
I.H. Hutchinson, J. Irby, V. Klein, B. LaBombard, Y. Lin, E.S. Marmar, A.
Mazurenko, D. Mossessian, E. Nelson-Melby, T. Sunn Pedersen, M. Porkolab, J.A.
Snipes, J. Terry, S. Wolfe, S. Wukitch, Pedestal profiles and fluctuations in
C-Mod enhanced D-alpha H-modes, Physics of Plasmas 8, p. 2033 (2001)
J.
Kesner, A.N. Simakov, D.T. Garnier, P.J. Catto, R.J. Hastie, S.I.
Krashenninikov, M.E. Mauel, T. Sunn Pedersen, J.J. Ramos, Dipole equilibrium
and stability, Nuclear Fusion 41,
p. 301 (2001)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, R. S. Granetz, A. E. Hubbard, I. H. Hutchinson, E. S. Marmar, J.
E. Rice, J. Terry, Radial impurity transport in the H-Mode transport barrier
region in Alcator C-Mod, Nuclear Fusion 40, p. 1795 (2000)
T.
Sunn Pedersen and R. S. Granetz, Simultaneous soft x-ray emissivity profile
measurements in poloidally separate locations of the Alcator C-Mod edge
plasma, Review of Scientific Instruments 71, p. 3385 (2000)
M.Greenwald,
R. Boivin, P. Bonoli, C. Fiore, J Goetz, R. Granetz, A. Hubbard, I Hutchinson,
J. Irby, Y. Lin, E. Marmar, A. Mazurenko, D. Mossessian, T. S. Pedersen, J.
Rice, J. Snipes, G. Schilling, G. Taylor, J. Terry, S. Wolfe, S. Wukitch,
Studies of EDA H-mode in Alcator C-Mod Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 42, suppl.5A, p.A263 (2000)
J.
E. Rice, J. A. Goetz, R. S. Granetz, M. J. Greenwald,A. E. Hubbard, I. H.
Hutchinson, E. S. Marmar, D. Mossessian, T. S. Pedersen, J. A. Snipes, J.L.
Terry, S. M. Wolfe, Impurity toroidal rotation and transport in Alcator C-Mod
ohmic high confinement mode plasmas, Physics of Plasmas 7, p. 1825 (2000)
D.
Mossessian, A. E. Hubbard., E. S. Marmar., T. Sunn Pedersen, R. S. Granetz, R.
L. Boivin, M. Greenwald, J. Hughes, J. Irby, D. Johnson, B. LaBombard, Y. Lin,
A. Mazurenko, R. Nazikian, C. S. Pitcher, G. Taylor, S. M. Wolfe,
"Measurements and scalings of the H-mode pedestal on Alcator C-Mod",
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 42, p. A255 (2000)
T.
Sunn Pedersen and R. S. Granetz, "Edge x-ray imaging measurements of the
plasma edge in Alcator C-Mod", Review of Scientific Instruments 70, p. 586 (1999)
M.
Greenwald, R. Boivin, P. Bonoli, R. Budny, C. Fiore, J. Goetz, R. Granetz, A.
Hubbard, I. Hutchinson, J. Irby, B. LaBombard, Y. Lin, B. Lipschultz, E.
Marmar, A. Mazurenko, D. Mossessian, T. Sunn Pedersen, C.S. Pitcher, M.
Porkolab, J. Rice, W. Rowan, J. Snipes, G. Schilling, Y. Takase, J. Terry, S.
Wolfe, J. Weaver, B.Welch, and S. Wukitch, "Characterization of enhanced Da high-confinement modes in Alcator
C-Mod", Physics of Plasmas 6,
p. 1943 (1999)
I.
H. Hutchinson, R. S. Granetz, M. Greenwald, A. Hubbard, J. A. Snipes, T. Sunn
Pedersen, B. LaBombard, and the Alcator Group "Edge transport barrier
phenomena in Alcator C-Mod", Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 41, p. A609 (1999)
A.
E. Hubbard, R. L. Boivin, R. S. Granetz, M. Greenwald, I. H. Hutchinson, J. H.
Irby, Y. In, J. Kesner, B. LaBombard, Y. Lin, J. E. Rice, T. S. Pedersen, J. A.
Snipes, P. C. Stek, Y. Takase , S. M. Wolfe, S. Wukitch, "Measurements of
the high confinement mode pedestal region on Alcator C-Mod", Physics of
Plasmas 5, p. 1744
(1998)
J.
A. Snipes, R. S. Granetz, M. Greenwald, A. E. Hubbard, I. H. Hutchinson, J. Irby,
J. Kesner, S. Migliuolo, T. S. Pedersen, J. Ramos, J. Rice, P. C. Stek, Y.
Takase, S. M. Wolfe, "ELMs and fast edge fluctuations in Alcator
C-Mod", Plasma Phys.Control. Fusion 40, p. 765 (1998)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, P. K. Michelsen and J. Juul Rasmussen "Resistive Coupling
in drift wave turbulence", Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 38, p. 2143 (1996)
T.
Sunn Pedersen, P. K. Michelsen and J. Juul Rasmussen "Lyapunov exponents
and particle dispersion in drift wave turbulence", Physics of Plasmas 3, p. 2939 (1996)
T. Sunn Pedersen, P. K. Michelsen and J. Juul Rasmussen "Analysis of chaos in plasma turbulence", Physica Scripta T67, p. 30 (1996)
T. Sunn Pedersen, Large electric fields in stellarators, book chapter in New Developments in Nuclear Fusion Research (Nova Science Publishers, 2006).
J. W. Berkery, T. S. Pedersen, J. P. Kremer, R. G. Lefrancois, Q. R. Marksteiner, A. H. Boozer, H. E. Mynick, N. Pomphrey, W. Reiersen, F. Dahlgren, H. Himura, X. Sarasola, First studies of pure electron plasmas in the Columbia Non-neutral Torus, AIP Conference Proceedings 862 p. 62 (2006)
T. Sunn Pedersen, The Columbia Non-neutral Torus starts operation, Stellarator News 97, p. 1 (2005)
T. Sunn Pedersen, First non-neutral plasmas in the CNT stellarator Stellarator News 99 p. 3 (2005)
T. Sunn Pedersen, A. H. Boozer, J. P. Kremer, Confinement of Non-neutral Plasmas in the Columbia Non-neutral Torus, AIP Conference Proceedings 692, p. 302 (2003)
J. P. Kremer, T. Sunn Pedersen, N. Pomphrey, W. Reiersen, F. Dahlgren, The status of the design and construction of the Columbia Non-neutral Torus, AIP Conference Proceedings 692, p. 320 (2003)
T. Sunn Pedersen, Edge Plasma Phenomena in the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak Measured by High Resolution X-Ray Imaging Diagnostics, Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, February 2000. (Published as PSFC Report RR-00-3).
T. Sunn Pedersen, Fusion - ren energi, in Udsyn giver indsigt II, Danish Research Academy, 1999 (in Danish)
R.S. Granetz, T.H. Osborne, R.L. Boivin, M. Greenwald, R.J. Groebner, A.E. Hubbard, J.H. Irby, L.L. Lao, A.W. Leonard,Y. Lin , R.L. Miller, T. Sunn Pedersen, G.D. Porter, Alcator and DIII-D Groups, Scaling of H-mode pedestal characteristics in DIII-D and C-Mod, Proceedings from the 17th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference, Yokohama, Japan (1998)
T. Sunn Pedersen, Numerical and theoretical investigations of Resistive Drift Wave Turbulence, Report Ris-I-937 (EN), Ris National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark, September 1995
T. Sunn Pedersen et al., First studies of pure electron plasmas in the CNT stellarator, invited talk presented at the Nonneutral Plasma Workshop in rhus, Denmark, June 2006
T. Sunn Pedersen et al., Pure electron plasmas in a stellarator: Theory and experiment, invited talk presented on my behalf by R. Lefrancois at the April APS meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 2006
T. Sunn Pedersen et al., First results from the Columbia Non-neutral Torus (CNT), talk presented at the 15th International Stellarator Workshop in Madrid, Spain, October 2005
T. Sunn Pedersen et al., Confinement of plasmas of arbitrary neutrality in a stellarator, invited talk presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, October 2003, Albuquerque, NM
T. Sunn Pedersen et al., Confinement of non-neutral plasmas in a stellarator, invited talk presented at the 14th International Stellarator Workshop, Greifswald, Germany, September 2003
T. Sunn Pedersen et al., The Levitated Dipole Experiment: Exploring plasma confinement in a dipole magnetic field. Talk presented at the Danish Physical Society Annual Meeting, Nyborg, Denmark, June 2000
T. Sunn Pedersen et al., Poloidal asymmetries in soft x-ray pedestals from Alcator C-Mod.
Talk presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics, in Seattle, WA, November 1999
T. Sunn Pedersen et al., "Soft X-ray H-Mode Pedestal Structure Measured at two Poloidally Separate Locations in Alcator C-Mod". Talk presented at the Joint U.S.-European Transport Taskforce Meeting in Portland, OR, April 1999
T. Sunn Pedersen and P. K. Michelsen, "Chaos and Particle Dispersion in Electrostatic Drift Wave Turbulence.Talk presented at the 6th European Fusion Theory Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1995.
Dr. Alex Klein (PhD
Dec 2005, currently postdoctoral associate employed by MIT, stationed at JET)
Jason P. Kremer (PhD
Sep 2006, currently financial software developer in San Francisco, CA)
Remi G. Lefrancois
(PhD Dec 2006, currently assistant vice president, Credit Suisse)
Quinn R. Marksteiner
(PhD Dec 2007)
Michael Hahn
Benoit Durand de
Gevigney
Paul Brenner
Dr. Jack Berkery
(Fusion Energy Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow 2005-2007)