Alpha particle driven Alfv\'enic instabilities in ITER post-disruption plasmas

TL;DR

This study investigates alpha particle-driven Alfvénic instabilities during ITER disruptions, revealing their potential to generate modes that could significantly influence runaway electron transport and mitigation.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive simulation framework coupling alpha particle dynamics with Alfvénic mode analysis, highlighting the potential for passive runaway electron mitigation during disruptions.

Findings

Alpha particles can drive Alfvénic modes during disruptions.

Modes with amplitudes up to 0.1% can influence runaway electron transport.

Multiple mode numbers can be excited, affecting RE seed formation.

Abstract

Fusion-born alpha particles in ITER disruption simulations are investigated as a possible drive of Alfv\'enic instabilities. The ability of these waves to expel runaway electron (RE) seed particles is explored in the pursuit of a passive, inherent RE mitigation scenario. The spatiotemporal evolution of the alpha particle distribution during the disruption is calculated using the linearized Fokker-Planck solver CODION coupled to a fluid disruption simulation. These simulations are done in the limit of no alpha particle transport during the thermal quench, which can be seen as a most pessimistic situation where there is also no RE seed transport. Under these assumptions, the radial anisotropy of the resulting alpha population provides free energy to drive Alfv\'enic modes during the quench phase of the disruption. We use the linear gyrokinetic magnetohydrodynamic code LIGKA to calculate the Alfv\'en spectrum and find that the equilibrium is capable of sustaining a wide range of modes. The self-consistent evolution of the mode amplitudes and the alpha distribution is calculated utilizing the wave-particle interaction tool HAGIS. Intermediate mode number ($n=7-15,~22-26$) Toroidal Alfv\'en Eigenmodes (TAEs) are shown to saturate at an amplitude of up to $\delta B /B \approx 0.1$\% in the spatial regimes crucial for RE seed formation. We find that the mode amplitudes are predicted to be sufficiently large to permit the possibility of significant radial transport of runaway electrons.