Spatially resolved measurements of ion heating during impulsive reconnection in the Madison Symmetric Torus

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 98; no. 7; p. 075001
• Main Authors: Gangadhara, S, Craig, D, Ennis, D A, Hartog, D J Den, Fiksel, G, Prager, S C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 16.02.2007
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.075001

The impurity ion temperature evolution has been measured during three types of impulsive reconnection events in the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed field pinch. During an edge reconnection event, the drop in stored magnetic energy is small and ion heating is observed to be limited to the outer half of the plasma. Conversely, during a global reconnection event the drop in stored magnetic energy is large, and significant heating is observed at all radii. For both kinds of events, the drop in magnetic energy is sufficient to explain the increase in ion thermal energy. However, not all types of reconnection lead to ion heating. During a core reconnection event, both the stored magnetic energy and impurity ion temperature remain constant. The results suggest that a drop in magnetic energy is required for ions to be heated during reconnection, and that when this occurs heating is localized near the reconnection layer.