Neutral particle modelling assumptions: Theory and experiment

The neutral particle recycling models that have been used to date in numerical plasma confinement simulations are by no means equivalent but may lead, instead, to divergent results. As a consequence of this confinement studies based on individual neutral assumptions must be received with a healthy degree of scepticism. We go on to compare experimental observations of the time development of plasma density, temperature, and neutral pressure made in an electrostatic surface trap with numerical plasma simulations incorporating a number of alternative neutral models.