Comparison between experimental and theoretical conditions for the L-H transition in JET

The transition to H-mode is conditional to the achievement of certain critical conditions, generally dependent on both local quantities and global plasma parameters. A physical understanding of the L-H transition process cannot improve without the development of theoretical models and their testing against such experimental evidence. The aim of the present paper, therefore, is to compare some of the physics-based theoretical models with the experimental conditions for the L-H transition in JET plasmas. The results show that although the models considered can offer a partial understanding of the processes involved in the formation of the edge transport, none of them can uniquely explain all the results. (author)