Cancellation of drift kinetic effects between thermal and energetic particles on the resistive wall mode stabilization

Drift kinetic stabilization of the resistive wall mode (RWM) is computationally investigated using MHD-kinetic hybrid code MARS-K following the non-perturbative approach (Liu et al 2008 Phys. Plasmas15 112503), for both reversed field pinch (RFP) and tokamak plasmas. Toroidal precessional drift resonance effects from trapped energetic ions (EIs) and various kinetic resonances between the mode and the guiding center drift motions of thermal particles are included into the self-consistent toroidal computations. The results show cancellation effects of the drift kinetic damping on the RWM between the thermal particles and EIs contributions, in both RFP and tokamak plasmas, even though each species alone can provide damping and stabilize RWM instability by respective kinetic resonances. The degree of cancellation generally depends on the EIs equilibrium distribution, the particle birth energy, as well as the toroidal flow speed of the plasma.