Interaction of charged reaction products with opalescent fluctuations

In a D-T plasma close to ignition, if the contribution of the 3.5 MeV fusion-produced α-particles to the total plasma pressure is neglected, the interaction of these particles with the magnetic fluctuations which are supported by the bulk of the plasma can be described by retaining the contribution arising from the wave-particle resonant interaction only. Then, following a perturbation approach, we can start by examining the time evolution, in the absence of α-particles, of magnetic fluctuations of the shear-Alfven type in a sheared magnetic configuration where the presence of magnetic curvature causes a mixing between these waves and interchange instabilities. In the description of these fluctuations, we shall adopt an equation, derived from the theory of ballooning modes that can be proved to be valid in the neighborhood of the magnetic axis