Stability of Alfven gap modes in burning plasmas
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Fusion Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
A stability analysis is carried out for energetic particle-Alfven gap modes. Three modes have been identified: the toroidicity, ellipticity, and noncircular triangularity induced Alfven eigenmodes (TAE, EAE, and NAE). In highly elongated plasma cross sections with {kappa}{minus}1{similar to}1, the EAE may be a more robust mode than the TAE and NAE. It is found that electron Landau damping in highly elongated plasmas has a strong stabilizing influence on the {ital n}=1 EAE, while ion Landau damping stabilizes the {ital n}=1 TAE in high-density regimes. Furthermore, the NAE turns out to be stable for all currently proposed ignition experiments. The stability analysis of a typical burning plasma device, Burning Plasma Experiment (BPX) (Phys. Scr. {bold T16}, 89 (1987)) shows that {ital n}{gt}1 gap modes can pose a serious threat to the achievement of ignition conditions.
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 7113245
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (United States) Vol. 4:6; ISSN 0899-8221; ISSN PFBPE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
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ALFVEN WAVES
ALPHA PARTICLES
ANNULAR SPACE
CHARGED PARTICLES
CLOSED CONFIGURATIONS
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
CONFIGURATION
DAMPING
ELLIPTICAL CONFIGURATION
FLUID MECHANICS
HARMONICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
LANDAU DAMPING
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
OSCILLATIONS
SPACE
STABILITY
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TOROIDAL CONFIGURATION