Runaway electron generation in axisymmetric tokamak geometry

• Published in: Europhysics letters Vol. 127; no. 4; pp. 45001 - 45006
• Main Authors: McDevitt, C. J., Tang, X.-Z.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Les Ulis EDP Sciences, IOP Publishing and Società Italiana di Fisica 01.08.2019; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: 52.25.Dg; 52.55.Fa; 52.65.Pp; Electric fields; Electrons; Tokamak devices
• ISSN: 0295-5075; 1286-4854; 1286-4854
• DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/127/45001

The generation of relativistic electrons in tokamak plasmas has been the subject of extensive research due to their intrinsic interest as well as the threat they pose to reactor-scale tokamak devices. Runaway electron generation becomes particularly robust for the very large inductive electric fields that are often present during tokamak disruptions. In this letter we show that when such large inductive electric fields are present, the physics of how tokamak geometry impacts runaway generation processes is qualitatively modified compared to the more commonly studied limit of weak inductive electric-field strengths. This modification leads to a significant increase in the efficiency of all runaway generation processes.