Uncovering turbulent plasma dynamics via deep learning from partial observations

One of the most intensely studied aspects of magnetic confinement fusion is edge plasma turbulence which is critical to reactor performance and operation. Drift-reduced Braginskii two-fluid theory has for decades been widely applied to model boundary plasmas with varying success. Towards better understanding edge turbulence in both theory and experiment, we demonstrate that physics-informed neural networks constrained by partial differential equations can accurately learn turbulent fields consistent with the two-fluid theory from just partial observations of a synthetic plasma's electron density and temperature in contrast with conventional equilibrium models. These techniques present a novel paradigm for the advanced design of plasma diagnostics and validation of magnetized plasma turbulence theories in challenging thermonuclear environments.