On Production Mechanisms For Balmer Line Radiation From 'Cold' Atomic Hydrogen and Deuterium In Fusion Edge Plasmas

Published arguments, which assign dominant roles to atomic metastability and molecular ion dissociation in the production of 'narrow' Zeeman component Balmer line radiation from the tokamak edge plasma, have been examined critically in relation to: l-redistribution by proton collisions, molecular ion-proton equipartition, and ion acceleration by the plasma sheath (scrape-off layer) potential. These processes are found to constrain the contributions from metastable atoms and from dissociative excitation of molecular ions to 'narrow' Balmer spectra emitted from the plasma edge, in relation to the corresponding contributions from electron impact-induced dissociative excitation of neutral molecules.