Gyrokinetic determination of the electrostatic potential of rotating magnetic islands in tokamaks

Journal Article · Thu Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3671964· OSTI ID:22047133

Siccinio, M; Poli, E; Casson, F J ^[1]; Hornsby, W A; Peeters, A G ^[2]

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1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstrasse 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
2. University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth (Germany)

The electrostatic potential related to a magnetic island structure with imposed width and rotation frequency is studied by means of gyrokinetic simulations, which allow its self-consistent determination via the Poisson equation. An adiabatic response of the trapped ions at the island separatrix leads to a significant smoothing of the potential with respect to analytic calculations based on a complete flattening of the pressure profile inside the island. As a consequence, the magnitude of the polarization current is drastically reduced. When the island size is comparable to the ion banana width, the adiabatic response covers the whole island region, leading to a reduced density flattening for islands rotating in the electron diamagnetic direction. This confirms previous results based on drift-kinetic simulations.

• OSTI ID: 22047133
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BANANA REGIME
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRONS
IONS
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA DRIFT
PLASMA POTENTIAL
PLASMA PRESSURE
PLASMA SIMULATION
PLASMA WAVES
POISSON EQUATION
POLARIZATION
TEARING INSTABILITY
TOKAMAK DEVICES