On the convergence of bootstrap current to the Shaing-Callen limit in stellarators

TL;DR

This paper investigates how bootstrap current in stellarators approaches the Shaing-Callen limit, revealing oscillations, convergence conditions, and the influence of magnetic field alignment and electric fields on the off-set current.

Contribution

It provides analytical and semi-analytical insights into the convergence behavior of bootstrap current to the Shaing-Callen limit, including conditions for minimizing off-set current.

Findings

Off-set current oscillates with log of collisionality in the 1/nu regime.

Convergence to the Shaing-Callen limit occurs with significant orbit precession.

Magnetic field alignment reduces off-set current and improves convergence.

Abstract

Bootstrap current in stellarators can be presented as a sum of a collisionless value given by the Shaing-Callen asymptotic formula and an off-set current, which non-trivially depends on plasma collisionality and radial electric field. Using NEO-2 modelling, analytical estimates and semi-analytical studies with help of a propagator method, it is shown that the off-set current in the $1/\nu$ regime does not converge with decreasing collisionality $\nu_\ast$ but rather shows oscillations over $\log\nu_\ast$ with an amplitude of the order of the bootstrap current in an equivalent tokamak. The convergence to the Shaing-Callen limit appears in regimes with significant orbit precession, in particular, due to a finite radial electric field, where the off-set current decreases as $\nu_\ast^{3/5}$. The off-set current strongly increases in case of nearly aligned magnetic field maxima on the field line where it diverges as $\nu_\ast^{-1/2}$ in the $1/\nu$ regime and saturates due to the precession at a level exceeding the equivalent tokamak value by ${v_E^\ast}^{-1/2}$ where $v_E^\ast$ is the perpendicular Mach number. The latter off-set, however, can be minimized by further aligning local magnetic field maxima and by fulfilling an extra integral condition of ``equivalent ripples'' for the magnetic field. A criterion for the accuracy of this alignment and of ripple equivalence is derived. In addition, the possibility of the bootstrap effect at the magnetic axis caused by the above off-set is also discussed.