Fast-ion Energy Loss During TAE Avalanches in the National Spherical Torus Experiment

Strong TAE avalanches on NSTX, the National Spherical Torus Experiment [M. Ono, et al., Nucl. Fusion 40 (2000) 557] are typically correlated with drops in the neutron rate in the range of 5% - 15%. In previous studies of avalanches in L-mode plasmas, these neutron drops were found to be consistent with modeled losses of fast ions. Here we expand the study to TAE avalanches in NSTX H-mode plasmas with improved analysis techniques. At the measured TAE mode amplitudes, simulations with the ORBIT code predict that fast ion losses are negligible. However, the simulations predict that the TAE scatter the fast ions in energy, resulting in a small (≈ 6%) drop in fast ion β. The net decrease in energy of the fast ions is sufficient to account for the bulk of the drop in neutron rate, even in the absence of fast ion losses. This loss of energy from the fast ion population is comparable to the estimated energy lost by damping from the Alfven wave during the burst. The previously studied TAE avalanches in L-mode are re-evaluated using an improved calculation of the potential fluctuations in the ORBIT code