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Neoclassical tearing mode saturation in periodic current sheets

Phys. Plasmas 15, 042104 (2008); doi:10.1063/1.2901193

Published 14 April 2008

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F. Militello,1,2 M. Ottaviani,2 and F. Porcelli1
1Burning Plasma Research Group and Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
2Association Euratom CEA, CEA/DSM/IRFM, Cadarache, 13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
The saturation of Neoclassical Tearing Mode islands in a periodic slab configuration is investigated. Several theoretical models, all based on a generalization of Rutherford's procedure, that aim at reducing the complete system to a single equation of the magnetic island width, are compared against numerical simulations. When the effects of the bootstrap current and of the second derivative of the equilibrium current profile are included, the numerical saturation levels are well matched with the predictions of this equation in a wide region of the stability diagram. However, the numerical results diverge from the standard theory when evaluating the threshold for nonlinear destabilization, since the theoretical value appears to be strongly conservative. In other words, the standard generalization of Rutherford's equation is not able to capture the minimum value of the linear stability parameter and of the island width such that below them the Neoclassical Tearing Mode is always suppressed. To correct this discrepancy, a new theoretical model in which the transverse propagation of the island affects the bootstrap current term is proposed. ©2008 American Institute of Physics
History: Received 28 November 2007; accepted 3 March 2008; published 14 April 2008
Permalink: http://link.aip.org/link/?PHPAEN/15/042104/1
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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords
PACS
  • 52.30.Cv
    Plasma magnetohydrodynamics
  • 52.35.Py
    Plasma macroinstabilities (hydromagnetic)
  • YEAR: 2008

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ISSN:
1070-664X (print)   1089-7674 (online)
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