Toroidal rotation and momentum transport in Alcator C-Mod plasmas with no momentum input

Abstract

The time evolution of toroidal rotation velocity profiles has been measured in Alcator C-Mod [Hutchinson et al., Phys. Plasmas 1, 1511 (1994)] plasmas using a tangentially viewing x-ray spectrometer array. The strong co-current toroidal rotation in enhanced Dα (EDA) high confinement mode (H-mode) plasmas is observed to propagate in from the edge on a time scale similar to the energy confinement time. The ensuing steady state rotation velocity profiles in both Ohmic and ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) heated EDA H modes, which are generated in the absence of any external momentum input, are found to be relatively flat. These profiles may be simulated by a simple diffusion model with the boundary condition of an edge rotation, which appears during the H-mode period. The observed profiles are well matched by the simulations using a momentum diffusivity of ∼0.1 m2/s, which is much larger than the calculated neo-classical value, and the momentum transport may be regarded as anomalous. The Alcator C-Mod rotation observations have been compared in detail with the calculations of neo-classical and sub-neo-classical theory, to the predictions from modeling of ICRF wave induced energetic ion orbit shifts, and to estimates from turbulence driven mechanisms. The magnitude and scalings of the observed rotation results are in accord with neo-classical and sub-neo-classical calculations, but the measured momentum diffusivity is higher than the predictions by a large factor. The prediction of rotation reversal with a high magnetic field side resonance location for ICRF wave induced ion orbit shifts has not been observed in the experiments. While the turbulence driven rotation calculations are mostly qualitative, they represent some of the observed features.