The Effect of Energetic Particles on Resistive Wall Mode Stability in MAST

Resistive wall mode (RWM) stability limits have been probed by MHD spectroscopy and numerical modelling. MAST plasmas have operated up to βN = 5.7, well above the predicted ideal kink no-wall limit or measured resonant field amplification limits due to a combination of rotation and kinetic damping. By varying the density, both the rotation and the fast ion distribution function have been changed dramatically. Detailed drift-kinetic modelling shows that whilst the contribution of energetic beam ions to RWM damping does increase at sufficiently high plasma rotation as to allow resonance with the fast ion precession frequency, the thermal ion damping always dominates over the fast ion contribution