C. N. Lashmore-Davies J. A. Wesson C. G. Gimblett
A uniform compressible plasma with a uniform flow along the magnetic field in the presence of a resistive wall is shown to be subject to two instabilities. For the first instability, the flow velocity is required to exceed the Alfve´n speed, whereas for the second it need only exceed the sound speed. For a sufficiently high ion temperature, ion La…
PublishedT. Fülöp P. Helander
The theory of neoclassical transport in an impure toroidal plasma is extended to allow for larger pressure and temperature gradients and faster toroidal rotation than are usually considered. Under these conditions, the density of heavy impurities is not constant on flux surfaces, and the neoclassical transport becomes a nonlinear function of the gr…
PublishedH. R. Wilson J. W. Connor A. R. Field S. J. Fielding R. L. Miller et al.
The ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability of the tokamak edge is analyzed, with particular emphasis on radially localized instabilities; it is proposed that these are responsible for edge pressure gradient limits and edge localized modes (ELMS). Data and stability calculations from DIII-D [to appear in Proceedings of the 16th International Conf…
PublishedPeter J. Catto P. Helander J. W. Connor R. D. Hazeltine
The edge plasma of a tokamak is affected by atomic physics processes and can have density and temperature variations along the magnetic field that strongly modify edge transport. A closed system of equations in the Pfirsch–Schluter regime is presented that can be solved for the radial and poloidal variation of the plasma density, electron and ion…
PublishedP. Helander
In a toroidally rotating tokamak plasma, heavy impurity ions accumulate on the outside of each flux surface under the action of the centrifugal force. The collision frequency therefore varies over the flux surface. This circumstance is shown to enhance the neoclassical transport processes, including the bootstrap current, by making collisions occur…
PublishedP. Helander F. Wising Peter J. Catto R. D. Hazeltine
The kinetic theory of transport in an impure, partially ionized, edge plasma is developed. It is found that the thermal force between bulk ions and impurities is enhanced by the presence of neutral atoms, but the dynamical friction is not affected by the neutrals. When the neutral viscosity is large, an additional force on the impurities also arise…
PublishedC. N. Lashmore-Davies A. Thyagaraja R. A. Cairns
A cylindrical model of a tokamak is used to describe the nonlinear coupling between Alfven waves and sound waves. The model is applied to the case of a toroidal Alfven eigenmode (TAE) driven unstable by fusion alpha particles to explore its relevance to the nonlinear saturation of such modes, which can produce a loss of alpha particles in a burning…
PublishedR. D. Hazeltine P. Helander Peter J. Catto
The simplest nontrivial model of transport across a magnetic island chain in the presence of collisionless streaming along the magnetic field is solved by a Wiener–Hopf procedure. The solution found is valid provided the boundary layer about the island separatrix is narrow compared to the island width. The result demonstrates that when this assum…
Published