Toroidal modeling of plasma response and resonant magnetic perturbation field penetration

Abstract

The penetration dynamics of the resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) field is sim-ulated in the full toroidal geometry, under realistic plasma conditions in MAST experiments.The physics associated with several aspects of the RMP penetration - the plasma responseand rotational screening, the resonant and non-resonant torques and the toroidal momentumbalance - are highlighted. In particular, the plasma response is found to significantly amplifythe non-resonant component of the RMP field for some of the MAST plasmas. A fast rotatingplasma, in response to static external magnetic fields, experiences a more distributed electro-magnetic torque due to the resonance with continuum waves in the plasma. At fast plasmaflow (such as for the MAST plasma), the electromagnetic torque is normally dominant overthe neoclassical toroidal viscous (NTV) torque. However, at sufficiently slow plasma flow,the NTV torque can play a significant role in the toroidal momentum balance, thanks to theprecession drift resonance enhanced, so called superbanana plateau regime.