Study of Low-Frequency Core-Edge Coupling in a Tokamak: I. Experimental Observation in KSTAR

Abstract: Double-peaked fishbone events across multiple KSTAR discharges are investigated. The normalized beta $β{\mathrm{N}}$ and the edge safety factor $q{\mathrm{95}}$ under which the fishbones appear vary depending on the presence and form of external magnetic perturbations. The fishbone strength is closely related to $β{\mathrm{N}}$ and $q{\mathrm{95}}$: as $β{\mathrm{N}}$ increases and $q{\mathrm{95}}$ decreases, the fishbone strength increases. Measured fishbone-relevant signals are decomposed into amplitude envelope and phase components in the temporal domain, which are analyzed separately. In terms of the amplitude envelope component, the edge electron temperature fluctuation $\tilde T_\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{Edge}}$ becomes more correlated with the poloidal magnetic fluctuation $\dot{B}\mathrmθ$ compared to the core electron temperature fluctuation $\tilde T\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{Core}}$ as fishbone strength increases. In terms of the phase component, the phase of $\tilde T_\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{Edge}}$ precedes the phase of $\tilde T_\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{Core}}$ except in the case of very weak fishbones where the phase relations are inconclusive due to weak fishbone activity at the edge plasma, which is comparable to background fluctuations. The investigation suggests the possibility that the edge activity is not a mere side effect of the core activity, but could play an active role.