Resonant damping of toroidicity-induced shear-Alfven eigenmodes in tokamaks

Journal Article · Mon Feb 03 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Physical Review Letters; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.592· OSTI ID:7233907

Zonca, F; Chen, L ^[1]

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1. Plasma Physics Laboratory and Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)

An analytical theory of toroidicity-induced shear-Alfven eigenmodes (TAE) is presented. The full two-dimensional problem is treated using a variational approach and the radial eigenmode structure is analyzed. We show that TAE suffer a significant damping due to the strong absorption occurring at the resonances with the shear-Alfven continouus spectrum. The resonant damping is shown to be larger than the electron Landau damping and therefore constitutes an important dissipation mechanism in determining the threshold for TAE instabilities driven by alpha and energetic particles in tokamak experiments.

• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 7233907
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; (United States) Vol. 68:5; ISSN PRLTA; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700340* -- Plasma Waves
Oscillations
& Instabilities-- (1992-)
700412 -- Magnetic Confinement Devices-- (1992-)
ABSORPTION
ALFVEN WAVES
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
ANNULAR SPACE
CLOSED CONFIGURATIONS
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
CONFIGURATION
DAMPING
EIGENFUNCTIONS
ENERGY LOSSES
FOURIER TRANSFORMATION
FUNCTIONS
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
IGNITION
INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATIONS
LANDAU DAMPING
LOSSES
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC SURFACES
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
PLASMA
RESONANCE
SHEAR
SORPTION
SPACE
SYNTHESIS
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TOROIDAL CONFIGURATION
TRANSFORMATIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VARIATIONAL METHODS