Dynamics of seed magnetic island formation due to geometrically coupled perturbations

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1999 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.873265· OSTI ID:289210

Hegna, C C; Callen, J D ^[1]; LaHaye, R J ^[2]

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1. Departments of Engineering Physics and Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1687 (United States)
2. General Atomics, San Diego, California 92186 (United States)

Seed magnetic island formation due to a dynamically growing external source in toroidal confinement devices is modeled as an initial value, forced reconnection problem. For an external source whose amplitude grows on a time scale quickly compared to the Sweet{endash}Parker time of resistive magnetohydrodynamics, the induced reconnection is characterized by a current sheet and a reconnected flux amplitude that lags in time the source amplitude. This suggests that neoclassical tearing modes, whose excitation requires a seed magnetic island, are more difficult to cause in high Lundquist number plasmas. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 289210
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 6; ISSN 1070-664X; ISSN PHPAEN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CHARGED-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
MAGNETIC CONFINEMENT
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PLASMA WAVES
TEARING INSTABILITY