Self-mediation of runaway electrons via self-excited wave-wave and wave-particle interactions

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhang, Qile, Zhang, Yanzeng, Tang, Qi, Tang, Xian-Zhu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Zhang, Qile
Zhang, Yanzeng
Tang, Qi
Tang, Xian-Zhu
author_facet Zhang, Qile
Zhang, Yanzeng
Tang, Qi
Tang, Xian-Zhu
contents Nonlinear dynamics of runaway electron induced wave instabilities can significantly modify the runaway distribution critical to tokamak operations. Here we present the first-ever fully kinetic simulations of runaway-driven instabilities towards nonlinear saturation in a warm plasma where collisional damping is subdominant. It is found that the slow-X modes grow an order of magnitude faster than the whistler modes, and they parametrically decay to produce whistlers much faster than those directly driven by runaways. These parent-daughter waves, as well as secondary and tertiary wave instabilities, initiate a chain of wave-particle resonances that strongly diffuse runaways to the backward direction. This reduces almost half of the current carried by high-energy runaways, over a time scale orders of magnitude faster than experimental shot duration. These results beyond quasilinear analysis may impact anisotropic energetic electrons broadly in laboratory, space and astrophysics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_15830
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Self-mediation of runaway electrons via self-excited wave-wave and wave-particle interactions
Zhang, Qile
Zhang, Yanzeng
Tang, Qi
Tang, Xian-Zhu
Plasma Physics
Nonlinear dynamics of runaway electron induced wave instabilities can significantly modify the runaway distribution critical to tokamak operations. Here we present the first-ever fully kinetic simulations of runaway-driven instabilities towards nonlinear saturation in a warm plasma where collisional damping is subdominant. It is found that the slow-X modes grow an order of magnitude faster than the whistler modes, and they parametrically decay to produce whistlers much faster than those directly driven by runaways. These parent-daughter waves, as well as secondary and tertiary wave instabilities, initiate a chain of wave-particle resonances that strongly diffuse runaways to the backward direction. This reduces almost half of the current carried by high-energy runaways, over a time scale orders of magnitude faster than experimental shot duration. These results beyond quasilinear analysis may impact anisotropic energetic electrons broadly in laboratory, space and astrophysics.
title Self-mediation of runaway electrons via self-excited wave-wave and wave-particle interactions
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.15830