H. 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…
PublishedJ. W. Connor R. J. Hastie H. R. Wilson R. L. Miller
A new formalism for analyzing the magnetohydrodynamic stability of a limiter tokamak edge plasma is developed. Two radially localized, high toroidal mode number n instabilities are studied in detail: a peeling mode and an edge ballooning mode. The peeling mode, driven by edge current density and stabilized by edge pressure gradient, has features wh…
PublishedH. R. Wilson J. W. Connor R. J. Hastie C. C. Hegna
A kinetic theory for magnetic islands in a low collision frequency tokamak plasma is presented. Self-consistent equations for the islands’ width, w , and propagation frequency, w , are derived. These include contributions from the perturbed bootstrap current and the toroidally enhanced ion polarization drift. The bootstrap current is ind…
PublishedJ. W. Connor H. R. Wilson
A theory for the existence of noninteracting small-scale, "drift" magnetic islands in a high temperature tokamak plasma is presented. This situation contrasts with that discussed by Rebut and Hugon [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 33, 1085 (1991)] which involves a background "sea" of magnetic turbulence caused by island overlap. The islands are driv…
PublishedJ. B. Taylor H. R. Wilson
Short wavelength fluctuations may be a source of anomalous transport in toroidal plasmas. Early investigations concerned electron and ion modes that occur only at a particular radius and have a localised eigenfunction: such modes do not seem important for transport. Recently, Connor, Taylor and Wilson [1] described electron modes that occur at all …
PublishedJ. W. Connor J. B. Taylor H. R. Wilson
An important conclusion of earlier work using the ballooning representation is that shear damping of plasma drift waves may be suppressed in a torus. This application of the formalism requires that the diamagnetic frequency have a maximum and implies that drift modes can exist only at this maximum. Here we show that there is a far more general clas…
Published