
Citation: | Junhui YANG, Jinjia CAO, Jianhua ZHAO, Yongzhi DAI, Dong XIANG. Alfvén continuum in the presence of a magnetic island in a cylinder configuration[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2023, 25(3): 035102. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ac9de0 |
In this work, the effect of a magnetic island on Alfvén waves is studied. A physical model is established wherein Alfvén waves propagate in the presence of a magnetic island in a cylindrical geometry. The structure of the Alfvén wave continuum is calculated by considering only the coupling caused by the periodicity in the helical angle of the magnetic island. The results show that the magnetic island can induce an upshift in the Alfvén continuum. Moreover, the coupling between different branches of the continuous spectrum becomes more significant with increasing continuum mode numbers near the boundary of the magnetic island.
Alfvén waves physics is an important subject in plasma physics, especially the continuum gap of Alfvén waves in magnetic confinement fusion plasma, which can indicate the possible locations of discrete Alfvén eigenmodes and induce fast ion losses [1]. In burning plasmas, a large number of energetic particles can interact with Alfvén waves and induce different types of Alfvén global eigenmodes, such as toroidicity-induced Alfvén eigenmodes [2–4] and beta-induced Alfvén eigenmodes (BAE) [5–7]. Waves and particles interact non-linearly, which may lead to a redistribution or even to a loss of energetic particles. This poses a serious threat to the operation safety of magnetic confinement devices. Recently, the interaction between magnetic islands and Alfvén waves has attracted extensive attention. In EAST (the Experimental and Advanced Superconducting Tokamak), it has been observed that BAEs are driven when the magnetic island width exceeds a threshold value, and that the BAE frequencies will increase with the magnetic island width [8]. Similar phenomena were also observed in FTU [9, 10] and TEXTOR [11]. In TJ-II [12], it was observed that magnetic islands can significantly change the frequency of the gap locations in the continuous Alfvén spectrum. Biancalani et al analyzed the influence of magnetic islands on the Alfvén continuum spectrum and found that continuum gaps formed owing to the ellipticity of the magnetic island and determined the frequency of the shifted continuum [13–15]. Cook and Hegna solved the ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equation via WKB approximation (Wenzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximation), and they determined the influence of magnetic islands on the shear Alfvén continuum. Their results show that magnetic islands can change the frequencies of the shear Alfvén continuum [16]. Subsequently, magnetic-island-induced Alfvén eigenmodes were observed by adding magnetic islands to the Madison symmetry ring of the inverse field hoop device and injecting a neutral beam injection, and magnetic islands cause a significant upward frequency shift of the Alfvén wave continuum [17].
In this work, a cylindrical geometry is adopted. Thus, the period
This paper is organized as follows. In section 2, the magnetic field geometry is introduced. In section 3, the equations for the shear Alfvén wave continuum are discussed. In section 4, the numerical results are provided. Finally, the discussion and the summary are given in section 5.
For magnetic confinement devices with a large inverse aspect-ratio (
→B=B0R0r2ι∇θ+R0B0∇φ, | (1) |
where
˜ψ=Acos(Mθ+Nφ), | (2) |
→B1=∇×(˜ψ→B0), | (3) |
where
→B1=(B0r∂˜ψ∂θ-B0R0rR0ι∂˜ψ∂φ)∂→r∂r+˜ψB0R20(2ι+rι' | (4) |
where
(5) |
where
(6) |
Thus, the new magnetic surface equation is given as
(7) |
The derivation of equation (7) is given in appendix. Here,
(8) |
Outside the magnetic island, the normalized magnetic flux surface can be written as
(9) |
From equations (7) and (9), the relation between
(10) |
Here, the radial position outside the magnetic island is
Furthermore, inside the magnetic island, the normalized magnetic flux surface can be written as
(11) |
(12) |
Here, the radial position inside the magnetic island is
(13) |
and outside the island the Jacobian is
(14) |
The rotational transform inside and outside the magnetic island can be obtained based on the definition of rotational transform:
(15) |
(16) |
Here,
Outside the island, i.e.
(17) |
where
(18) |
Figure 1 shows the rotational transform inside and outside the island. The results well agree with the past numerical calculations of Cook et al [16]. Here,
The new rotation transformation values,
(19) |
(20) |
Thus, we have
(21) |
(22) |
Solving equations (21) and (22), we can obtain
(23) |
(24) |
Figures 2(a) and (b) show a visualization of
In the new coordinates the Jacobians also become
(25) |
(26) |
Starting from the ideal MHD vorticity equation [18–24],
(27) |
where
(28) |
First, we study the Alfvén continuum inside the magnetic island, and the calculation outside the magnetic island can be similarly solved. Herein, the Alfvén continuum is mainly investigated, and we will solve the equation wherein the sum of the coefficients of the second radial derivatives is equal to zero. The operator
(29) |
(30) |
Here,
(31) |
where
(32) |
outside the island
(33) |
(34) |
where
(35) |
where
The quantities in equations (34) and (35) are
(36) |
(37) |
where
(38) |
(39) |
The results are shown in figure 3(b). Equation (38) is valid in the region of
If neglecting the coupling terms on the right-hand side of equation (35), we can use the relation
(40) |
Comparing equations (39) and (40), we find that the formulae are a bit different, and the results of equation (40) are shown in figure 4(a). Inside the island the continua are not equal to zero at the island O point as shown in figure 4(b). The minimum continuum is at
In the following part, we try to solve the eigenvalues inside and outside the island. Let us begin from the equation (34), the continuum equation inside the magnetic island. We multiply both sides of equation (34) with
(41) |
Using equations (18), (23), (25) and the relation
(42) |
The term in the left-hand side of equation (42) is an even function with respect to
(43) |
(44) |
(45) |
(46) |
(47) |
(48) |
Substituting equations (43)–(46) into equation (42), we get
(49) |
We integrate
(50) |
where
Next, the continua outside the magnetic island are calculated. The coordinates
(51) |
The even part in the left-hand side of equation can be expressed in Fourier cosine series and the odd component in the right-hand side can be expansion in Fourier sine series. We obtain
(52) |
(53) |
(54) |
(55) |
Then, similar to the treatment inside the magnetic island both sides of equation (51) are integrated with respect to
(56) |
Noting that in equations (45), (46), (54) and (55) the integral is complicate, we take the equations (45) and (54) as an example.
(57) |
(58) |
Using equations (23) and (24), we can transform the integral with respect to
(59) |
(60) |
where
As a result, the quantity inside the island can be expressed as
(61) |
(62) |
(63) |
A new quantum number
(64) |
In the papers of Cook and Biancalani, they also found new quantum numbers and discrete coupling inside the magnetic island [14, 16]. Our analytic calculations are consistent with the previous work. The new quantum number makes the coupling more complicate, and we will discuss it in a future paper.
Equations (50) and (56) represent the shear Alfvén wave continuum equations inside and outside the magnetic island, respectively, which can solve the eigenvalues. Next, we convert the equations to matrices as follows:
(65) |
where the eigenvalue is
(66) |
(67) |
Thus, the solving of the eigenvalues of equation (65) is transformed into the calculation of the eigenvalues of the matrix
With increasing poloidal mode number, the coupling phenomenon can be seen inside and outside the magnetic island. Figure 7 shows the coupling between Alfvén waves of more than three branches. The coupling induces a frequency gap between continua with
In the following part, we continue to increase the poloidal mode number to the continuum spectrum both inside and outside the magnetic island. Figure 8 displays the results. In figure 8(a) the continua are similar with those in figure 8(b). It implies that the couplings mainly arise from the periodicity of
A shear Alfvén continuum spectrum in the presence of a magnetic island with a cylinder configuration was obtained by solving MHD equations. Only the periodicity provided by the magnetic island for exciting the shear Alfvén wave mode was considered. Moreover, we confirmed that the magnetic island can induce coupling. In continua with high poloidal mode numbers and multiple-mode number couplings, continuum gaps may be present. At the island separatrix, the magnetic island induces an upshift in frequencies of the continuum. These results agree with the previous numerical simulation results of Biancalani et al [13–15] and Cook et al [16, 17]. However, we found that the upshift of frequency
Herein, the Alfvén wave continuum structure inside and outside the magnetic island was studied. Unlike Biancalani et al [13–15] who regard magnetic islands as a tokamak, we analyzed not only the ellipticity-induced coupling but also the multiple-mode coupling. The magnetic-island-induced Alfvén wave continua in stellarators are quite different from those in tokamaks. Moreover, the magnetic perturbation is considerably smaller than those in tokamaks. We did not study the toroidal couplings, and the three-dimensional effects produced by magnetic islands will be investigated in a future paper. Magnetic geometry with multiple periodicities contributed by the toroidal field, magnetic island, and triangularity is more common in a real device. Thus, multiple-mode couplings are very important and complex for not only stellarators but also tokamaks when a magnetic island is introduced to the magnetic configuration. Therefore, understanding the structure of a shear Alfvén continuum in the presence of magnetic islands is an important step for analyzing complex eigenmodes.
When there is a magnetic island, it needs to construct an auxiliary magnetic surface
(A1) |
where
(A2) |
(A3) |
where
(A4) |
In equation (A3) we take
(A5) |
Here,
(A6) |
The equation (A5) can be transformed into
(A7) |
Both sides of equation (A3) are multiplied with
(A8) |
When
(A9) |
Using
(A10) |
If equation (A10) is not singular, we assume that
(A11) |
Since
(A12) |
where
(A13) |
then the
(A14) |
Finally,
(A15) |
We take the real part of equation (A15) and obtain
(A16) |
where
The corresponding author, Dr Cao, appreciates the helpful discussions with Dr Axel Könies in Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald. This work is supported by the ITER Project of Ministry of Science and Technology (No. 2022YFE03080002), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11605088 and 12005100), the Key Scientific Research Program of Education Department of Hunan Province (Nos. 20A417 and 20A439), the National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Science Program of China (No. 2015GB110002), the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2017JJ3268), the International Cooperation Base Project of Hunan Province of China (No. 2018WK4009), the Key Laboratory of Magnetic Confinement Nuclear Fusion Research in Hengyang (No. 2018KJ108), and the PhD Start-Up Fund of University of South China (No. 2017XQD08).
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