DIMENSIONALLY EXACT ENERGY CONFINEMENT SCALING IN W7-AS

Energy confinement in W7-AS has been analyzed in terms of dimensionall y exact form free functions employing Bayesian probability theory. Bas ed upon the international stellarator database, which contains the ene rgy content for a wide variety of variable settings, predictions for s ingle variable scans are made. The scaling functions for density and p ower scans, respectively, are in quantitative agreement with data coll ected in W7-AS. Furthermore, the optimal model for the description of the global transport in W7-AS is identified as the collisional low-bet a kinetic model. [S0031-9007(98)07405-5].