Publications

You can find all of my publications on my Google Scholar profile. Feel free to contact me for copies of any papers or presentations I’ve authored!

Selected Publications by Topic

Turbulence in tokamak plasmas

Detecting Shearless Phase-Space Transport Barriers in Global Gyrokinetic Turbulence Simulations with Test Particle Map Models J. Plasma Phys 92 E17 (2026); doi:10.1017/S0022377826101305 arXiv:2511.02075 Maplenormandy/c1lgkt N.M. Cao, H. Zhu, G.C. Grime and T. Stoltzfus-Dueck

Evidence and modeling of turbulence bifurcation in L-mode confinement transitions on Alcator C-Mod Phys. Plasmas 27 052303 (2020); doi:10.1063/1.5144444 N.M. Cao, J.E. Rice, P.H. Diamond, A.E. White, M.A. Chilenski, P.C. Ennever, J.W. Hughes, J. Irby, M.L. Reinke and P. Rodriguez-Fernandez Hysteresis as a probe of turbulent bifurcation in intrinsic rotation reversals on Alcator C-Mod Nucl. Fusion 59 104001 (2019); doi:10.1088/1741-4326/ab3b38 N.M. Cao, J.E. Rice, P.H. Diamond, A.E. White, Baek S.G., M.A. Chilenski, J.W. Hughes, J. Irby, M.L. Reinke and P. Rodriguez-Fernandez

Advanced Uncertainty Quantification

	Quantifying Resolution Limits in Pedestal Profile Measurements with Gaussian Process Regression Nucl. Fusion 66 026016 (2026); doi:10.1088/1741-4326/ae2d6f arXiv:2507.05067 Maplenormandy/gpr-resolution N.M. Cao, D.R. Hatch, C. Michoski, T.A. Oliver, D. Eldon, A.O. Nelson, M. Waller
	Bayesian Spectral Moment Estimation and Uncertainty Quantification IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 48 22–30 (2020); doi:10.1109/TPS.2019.2946952 Maplenormandy/bsfc N.M. Cao and F. Sciortino

Turbulence in basic fluid and plasma systems

	The maintenance of coherent vortex topology by Lagrangian chaos in drift-Rossby wave turbulence Phys. Fluids 36 061701 (2024); doi:10.1063/5.0207687 arXiv:2402.13942 N.M. Cao and D. Qi Nearly integrable flows and chaotic tangles in the Dimits shift regime of plasma edge turbulence Phys. Plasmas 30 092307 (2023); doi:10.1063/5.0158013 arXiv:2309.15764 N.M. Cao and D. Qi
	Rossby waves past the breaking point in zonally dominated turbulence J. Fluid Mech. 958 A28 (2023); doi:10.1017/jfm.2023.90 Maplenormandy/qg-edgeofchaos N.M. Cao

Fusion reactor engineering

• Conceptual design study for heat exhaust management in the ARC fusion pilot plant
  Fusion Eng. Des. 137 221–42 (2018); doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2018.09.007
  Kuang A.Q., N.M. Cao, Creely A.J., Dennett C.A., Hecla J., LaBombard B., Tinguely R.A., Tolman E.A., Hoffman H., Major M., Ruiz Ruiz J., Brunner D., Grover P., Laughman C., Sorbom B.N. and Whyte D.G.
  (Note: This publication was the result of a group project for MIT 22.63 Engineering Principles for Fusion Reactors)

Selected Presentations

• Rossby Waves Past the Breaking Point in Zonally-Dominated Turbulence
  12th Festival de Théorie; July 8, 2022; Aix-en-Provence, France (youtube)
• Hysteresis as a Probe of Turbulent Bifurcation in Intrinsic Rotation Reversals on Alcator C-Mod
  Invited Talk. 61st APS-DPP Meeting; October 21-25, 2019; Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Observation and Quasilinear Modeling of Rotation Reversal Hysteresis in Alcator C-Mod Plasmas
  Best Student Poster Prize Winner. 24th Joint US-EU Transport Task Force Meeting; March 18-21, 2019; Austin, Texas
• Observation and Quasilinear Modeling of Rotation Reversal Hysteresis in Alcator C-Mod Plasmas
  Invited Talk. 2nd Asia-Pacific Conference on Plasma Physics; November 12-17, 2018; Kanazawa, Japan

In the Media

• Controlling plasma and plasma turbulence, June 4, 2020. MIT News.
  After his PhD thesis invalidates an old assumption, Norman Cao wonders what’s next.