Mechanism of runaway electron beam formation during plasma disruptions in tokamaks

Abstract

A new physical mechanism of formation of runaway electron beams during plasma disruptions in tokamaks is proposed. The plasma disruption is caused by a strong stochastic magnetic field formed due to nonlinearly excited low-mode number magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes. It is conjectured that the runaway electron beam is formed in the central plasma region confined inside the intact magnetic surface located between q = 1 and the closest low–order rational magnetic surfaces [q = 5/4 or q = 4/3,…]. It results in that runaway electron beam current has a helical nature with a predominant m/n = 1/1 component. The thermal quench and current quench times are estimated using the collisional models for electron diffusion and ambipolar particle transport in a stochastic magnetic field, respectively. Possible mechanisms for the decay of the runaway electron current owing to an outward drift electron orbits and resonance interaction of high–energy electrons with the m/n = 1/1 MHD mode are discussed.