Electromagnetic Effects on Rippling Instability and Tokamak Edge Fluctuations

"Electromagnetic effects on rippling mode are investigated as a cause of low frequency electromagnetic fluctuations in tokamak edge region. It is shown that, in a current-carrying resistive plasma, the purely growing electrostatic rippling mode can turn out to be an electromagnetic oscillatory instability. The resistivity fluctuation and temperature gradient are the main sources of this instability, which requires both parallel and perpendicular wave vectors. The Alfven waves in a coupled dispersion relation are found heavily damped in such dissipative plasmas.