Long timescale plasma dynamics and explosive growth driven by the double tearing mode in reversed shear plasmas

A new nonlinear destabilization process is found in the nonlinear phase of the double tearing mode (DTM) by using reduced MHD equations with helical symmetry. The nonlinear destabilization causes the abrupt growth of the DTM and subsequent collapse after long timescale evolution in the Rutherford-type regime. The nonlinear growth of the DTM is suddenly triggered, when the triangular deformation of magnetic islands with a sharp current point at the X-point around the outer rational surface exceeds a certain value. Decreasing the resistivity increases the sharpness of the triangularity and the spontaneous growth rate in the abrupt growth phase is almost independent of the resistivity. Current point formation is also confirmed in multi-helicity simulations, where the magnetic fields become stochastic between two rational surfaces.