Magnetic turbulence and pressure gradient feedback effect of the 1/2 mode soft-hard magnetohydrodynamic limit in large helical device

The aim of this study was to analyze the feedback process between the magnetic turbulence and the pressure gradients in Large Helical Device (LHD) inward-shifted configurations as well as its role in the transition between the soft-hard magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) regimes for instabilities driven by the mode 1/2 in the middle plasma. In the present paper, we summarize the results of two simulations with different Lundquist numbers, S = 2.5 x 10(5) and 10(6), assuming a plasma in the slow reconnection regime. The results for the high Lundquist number simulation show that the magnetic turbulence and the pressure gradient in the middle plasma region of LHD are below the critical value to drive the transition to the hard MHD regime, therefore only relaxations in the soft MHD limit are triggered (1/2 sawtooth-like events) [Phys. Plasmas 19, 082512 (2012)]. In the case of the simulation with low Lundquist number, the system reaches the hard MHD limit and a plasma collapse is observed. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.