ABSTRACT A model for neutral transport in the far scrape‐off layer (SOL) vacuum region (vacuum neutral model) has been developed and implemented in UEDGE. Free‐streaming neutral trajectories between the outermost UEDGE boundary and the vessel wall are preprocessed using DEGAS2 to construct a tele‐transport matrix that captures non‐local neutral relocation through the vacuum. This matrix is then used in UEDGE as a non‐local boundary condition for the neutral equations, preserving the robustness and convergence of the implicit solver without introducing statistical noise. Simulations of a DIII‐D lower single‐null configuration show that the vacuum neutral model relocates neutrals from the divertor to the upstream region, increasing the outer midplane separatrix density required for detachment onset by about . However, the characteristic target temperature at detachment () and the radiation front behavior remain unchanged.
Zhao et al. (2026) studied this question.