Inward pinch of high-Z impurity in a rotating tokamak plasma: effects of atomic processes, radial electric field and Coulomb collisions

Abstract

The transport of high-Z impurity in a toroidally rotating tokamak plasma is investigated analytically and numerically. It is shown that the inward pinch is driven by the atomic processes of ionization/recombination along the particle orbit both in co- and ctr-rotating plasmas. This inward pinch is enhanced by the radial electric field. It is derived that the negative and positive radial electric fields cause the inward pinch and the outward movement (unpinch) of the high-Z impurity, respectively, under the influence of Coulomb collisions with the rotating background plasma. In the ctr-rotation case, the inward pinch becomes significant with increasing toroidal rotation velocity, because the directions of both pinches are inwards. On the other hand, in the co-rotation case, these pinches have opposite directions. Therefore, the unpinch due to the positive radial electric field is decreased by the inward pinch due to the atomic processes. These tendencies are consistent with the tungsten accumulation observed in the JT-60U rotation scan experiment.