Fast particle losses due to NTMs and magnetic field ripple

We present a detailed numerical study of the interaction between fast particles and large-scale magnetic perturbations and toroidal field ripple. In particular we focus our study on the losses of fast ions created by neutral beam injection (NBI) for an ASDEX Upgrade discharge with neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) activity. For these investigations, we use as input an equilibrium carefully reconstructed from experimental data. The magnetic field ripple is self-consistently included by a three-dimensional, free-boundary equilibrium computation. The magnetic islands caused by a (2,1)-NTM are introduced by a field perturbation superimposed on the equilibrium magnetic field. The experimental data are used to reproduce size and location of those islands numerically. Starting from a realistic seed distribution, the guiding centres of about 100 000 fast ions are traced up to a given time limit, or until they hit plasma-facing structures. A detailed analysis of the particle trajectories provides important information on the underlying loss mechanisms such as: (i) losses of passing particles caused by drift island formation, and (ii) losses of trapped particles due to stochastic diffusion.

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