Two novel applications of bootstrap currents: Snakes and jitter stabilization

Both neoclassical theory and certain turbulence theories of particle transport in tokamaks predict the existence of bootstrap (i.e., pressure-driven) currents. Two new applications of this form of noninductive current are considered in this work. In the first, an earlier model of the nonlinearly saturated m=1 tearing mode is extended to include the stabilizing effect of a bootstrap current inside the island. This is used to explain several observed features of the so-called ''snake'' reported in the Joint European Torus (JET) [R. D. Gill, A. W. Edwards, D. Pasini, and A. Weller, Nucl. Fusion 32, 723 (1992)]. The second application involves an alternating current (ac) form of bootstrap current, produced by pressure-gradient fluctuations. It is suggested that a time-dependent (in the plasma frame), radio-frequency (rf) power source can be used to produce localized pressure fluctuations of suitable frequency and amplitude to implement the dynamic stabilization method for suppressing gross modes in tokamaks suggested in a recent paper [A. Thyagaraja, R. D. Hazeltine, and A. Y. Aydemir, Phys. Fluids B 4, 2733 (1992)]. This method works by ''detuning'' the resonant layer by rapid current/shear fluctuations. Estimates made for the power source requirements both for small machines such as COMPASS and for larger machines like JET suggest that the method could be practically feasible. This ''jitter'' (i.e., dynamic) stabilization method could provide a useful form of active instability control to avoid both gross/disruptive and fine-scale/transportive instabilities, which may set severe operating/safety constraints in the reactor regime. The results are also capable, in principle, of throwing considerable light on the local properties of current generation and diffusion in tokamaks, which may be enhanced by turbulence, as has been suggested recently by several researchers