2018/05/01 by Ge Dong, Dong, Ge, Jian Bao +6 · 3 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #earthquake and tectonic studies #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1805.00402
5 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2018/05/01 · openalex publication_date 2018/05/01 · arxiv updated 2018/05/02 · openalex created_date 2018/05/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Kinetic ballooning modes (KBM) are widely believed to play a critical role in disruptive dynamics as well as turbulent transport in tokamaks. While the nonlinear evolution of ballooning modes has been proposed as a mechanism for detonation in tokamak plasmas, the role of kinetic effects in such nonlinear dynamics remains largely unexplored. In this work global gyrokinetic simulation results of KBM nonlinear behavior are presented. Instead of the finite-time singularity predicted by ideal MHD theory, the kinetic instability is shown to develop into an intermediate nonlinear regime of exponential growth, followed by a nonlinear saturation regulated by spontaneously generated zonal fields. In the intermediate nonlinear regime, rapid growth of localized current sheet is observed.