Stabilization of sawtooty oscillation by island heating

Using the compressible resistive MHD equations in a finite aspect ratio cylinder, it is found that the m = 1 mode (the sawtooth oscillation) can saturate when the pressure inside the magnetic island is higher than that of the original core plasma. The saturation condition is of the form Δβ/sub p/ ≥ 8 ε-1/sub q = 1/ (1 - q0)2. This saturation effect can be used to actively stabilize sawteeth by heating the island and/or by cooling the core plasma. This mechanism together with a stabilizing toroidal effect may also explain recent lower-hybrid-wave-driven tokamak experiments where the saturation of sawteeth has been observed