Analytic studies of dispersive properties of shear Alfvén and acoustic wave spectra in tokamaks

The properties of the low frequency shear Alfvén and acoustic wave spectra in toroidal geometry are examined analytically and numerically considering wave particle interactions with magnetically trapped and circulating particles, using the theoretical model described in [I. Chavdarovski and F. Zonca, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 51, 115001 (2009)] and following the framework of the generalized fishbone-like dispersion relation. Effects of trapped particles as well as diamagnetic effects on the frequencies and damping rates of the beta-induced Alfvén eigenmodes, kinetic ballooning modes and beta-induced Alfvén-acoustic eigenmodes are discussed and shown to be crucial to give a proper assessment of mode structure and stability conditions. Present results also demonstrate the mutual coupling of these various branches and suggest that frequency as well as mode polarization are crucial for their identification on the basis of experimental evidence