Precession of Toroidally Passing Particles in Tokamaks and Spherical Tori
Authors: Ya.I. Kolesnichenko, R.B. White, and Yu.V. Yakovenko
Date of PPPL Report: January 2003
Published in: Physics of Plasmas 10, No. 5 (May 2003) 1449-1457.
The toroidal precession of the well-circulating particles and particles that are passing toroidally but trapped poloidally is studied. Expressions for the precession frequency, which are convenient for practical use, are obtained and analyzed. It is found that the key parameters that determine the magnitude and the direction of the precession velocity are the plasma elongation, the magnitudes and profiles of the safety factor and beta defined as the ratio of the local plasma pressure to the magnetic field pressure at the magnetic axis. An important role of the "paramagnetic " precession in highly elongated plasmas is revealed. The analysis carried out is based on the obtained expressions for the equilibrium magnetic field strength and the field line curvature.