Basic principles approach for studying nonlinear Alfven wave-alpha particle dynamics

An analytical model and a numerical procedure are presented which give a kinetic nonlinear description of the Alfven-wave instabilities driven by the source of energetic particles in a plasma. The steady-state and bursting nonlinear scenarios predicted by the analytical theory are verified in the test numerical simulation of the bump-on-tail instability. A mathematical similarity between the bump-on-tail problem for plasma waves and the Alfven wave problem gives a guideline for the interpretation of the bursts in the wave energy and fast particle losses observed in the tokamak experiments with neutral beam injection. copyright American Institute of Physics