Global gyrokinetic particle-in-cell simulations of internal kink instabilities

TL;DR

This paper presents gyrokinetic particle-in-cell simulations of internal kink instabilities in tokamaks, successfully modeling ideal-MHD modes, tearing modes, and diamagnetic effects to advance understanding of plasma stability.

Contribution

It introduces a gyrokinetic PIC simulation approach to study internal kink instabilities, including diamagnetic effects, in straight tokamak geometry, which is a novel application.

Findings

Successful simulation of ideal-MHD internal kink mode

Modeling of collisionless m=1 tearing mode

Investigation of diamagnetic effects on kink modes

Abstract

Internal kink instabilities have been studied in straight tokamak geometry employing an electromagnetic gyrokinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) code. The ideal-MHD internal kink mode and the collisionless $m = 1$ tearing mode have been successfully simulated with the PIC code. Diamagnetic effects on the internal kink modes have also been investigated.