Investigation of current-density modification during magnetic reconnection by analysis of hydrogen-pellet deflection.

A pellet penetrating the inner region of a tokamak discharge, where the safety factor drops below unity, triggers an instability analogous to a sawtooth crash. Because of the simultaneity of the crash and pellet crossing, the latter is an appropriate probe for investigating the current distribution during reconnection. In this Letter, pellet deflection is used to characterize the associated electron distribution function. The perturbation compatible with the observed trajectory requires a negative current layer on the q=1 magnetic surface between 3 and 12 times the equilibrium current density and an expulsion of high energy electrons from the plasma core.

MHD stability of advanced tokamak scenarios with reversed central current: an explanation of the "current hole".

A region of zero current density in the plasma center has been observed in the advanced tokamak scenarios with off-axis lower-hybrid current drive in the JET and JT-60U tokamak experiments. Significantly, the central current density does not become negative, although this is expected based on conventional current diffusion. In this paper, it is shown that the zero central current density and the absence of negative central current can be explained by the influence of a resistive kink magnetohydrodynamic instability.