Bayesian analysis of magnetic island dynamics

We examine a first order differential equation with respect to time coming up in the description of magnetic islands in magnetically confined plasmas. The free parameters of this equation are obtained by employing Bayesian probability theory. Additionally a typical Bayesian change point is solved in the process of obtaining the data.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to be included in MaxEnt 2002 proceeding

Reducing systematic errors in time-frequency resolved mode number analysis

The present paper describes the effect of magnetic pick-up coil transfer functions on mode number analysis in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. Magnetic probes mounted inside the vacuum chamber are widely used to characterize the mode structure of magnetohydrodynamic modes, as, due to their relative simplicity and compact nature, several coils can be distributed over the vessel. Phase differences between the transfer functions of different magnetic pick-up coils lead to systematic errors in time- and frequency resolved mode number analysis. This paper presents the first in-situ, end-to-end calibration of a magnetic pick-up coil system which was carried out by using an in-vessel driving coil on ASDEX Upgrade. The effect of the phase differences in the pick-up coil transfer functions is most significant in the 50-250 kHz frequency range, where the relative phase shift between the different probes can be up to 1 radian (~60{\deg}). By applying a correction based on the transfer functions we found smaller residuals of mode number fitting in the considered discharges. In most cases an order of magnitude improvement was observed in the residuals of the mode number fits, which could open the way to investigate weaker electromagnetic oscillations with even high mode numbers

Experimental investigation of the radial structure of energetic particle driven modes

Alfv\'en eigenmodes (AEs) and energetic particle modes (EPMs) are often excited by energetic particles (EPs) in tokamak plasmas. One of the main open questions concerning EP driven instabilities is the non-linear evolution of the mode structure. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the properties of beta-induced AEs (BAEs) and EP driven geodesic acoustic modes (EGAMs) observed in the ramp-up phase of off-axis NBI heated ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) discharges. This paper focuses on the changes in the mode structure of BAEs/EGAMs during the non-linear chirping phase. Our investigation has shown that in case of the observed down-chirping BAEs the changes in the radial structure are smaller than the uncertainty of our measurement. This behaviour is most probably the consequence of that BAEs are normal modes, thus their radial structure strongly depends on the background plasma parameters rather than on the EP distribution. In the case of rapidly upward chirping EGAMs the analysis consistently shows shrinkage of the mode structure. The proposed explanation is that the resonance in the velocity space moves towards more passing particles which have narrower orbit widths.Comment: submitted to Nuclear Fusio