Alfvénic propagation: a key to nonlocal effects in magnetized plasmas

A long-standing puzzle in fusion research comes from experiments where a sudden peripheral electron temperature perturbation is accompanied by an almost simultaneous opposite change in central temperature, in a way incompatible with local transport models. This Letter shows that these experiments and similar ones are fairly well quantitatively reproduced, when induction effects are incorporated in the total plasma response, alongside standard local diffusive transport, as suggested in earlier work [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 54, 124036 (2012).