Nonlinear excitation of geodesic acoustic mode by toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes and impact on plasma performance

Abstract: Spontaneous nonlinear excitation of geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) by toroidal Alfv\'en eigenmode (TAE) is investigated using nonlinear gyrokinetic theory. It is found that, the nonlinear decay process depends on thermal ion \beta value. Here, \beta is the plasma thermal to magnetic pressure ratio. In the low-\beta limit, TAE decays into a GAM and a lower TAE sideband in the toroidicity induced shear Alfv\'en wave continuous spectrum gap; while in the high-\beta limit, TAE decays into a GAM and a propagating kinetic TAE in the continuum. Both cases are investigated for the spontaneous decay conditions. The nonlinear saturation levels of both GAM and daughter wave are derived. The corresponding power balance and wave particle power transfer to thermal plasma are computed. Implications on thermal plasma heating are also discussed.