A bump-on-tail model for Alfvén eigenmodes in toroidal plasmas

Presented is a numerical model for solving the nonlinear dynamics of Alfvén eigenmodes and energetic ions self-consistently. The model is an extension of a previous bump-on-tail model [1, 2], taking into account particle orbits and wave fields in realistic toroidal geometries. The model can be used in conjunction with an orbit averaged Monte Carlo code that handles heating and current drive (similar to e.g. the SELFO code), which enables modeling of the effects of MHD activity on plasma heating. For rapid particle tracing, the unperturbed guiding center orbits are described with canonical action-angle coordinates [3], and the perturbed Hamiltonian for wave-particle interaction is included as Fourier components in the same angles [4]. This allows the numerical integrator to take time steps over several transit periods, which efficiently resolves the relevant time scales for nonlinear wave-particle dynamics. The wave field is modeled by a static eigenfunction and a dynamic complex amplitude driven by the interactions with resonant and non-resonant particles.