Long-lasting energetic particle modes in tokamak plasmas with low magnetic shear

A long-lasting (for hundreds of milliseconds) m/n = 1 energetic particle mode driven by trapped fast ions, other than conventional fishbone bursts, is studied theoretically and in comparison with HL-2A experimental results. The mode can be observed in weak shear tokamak plasmas during neutral beam injection with a mostly steady amplitude envelope of long-lasting magnetic perturbation signals. The dispersion relation and radial structure of the mode are calculated with a weak shear q-profile. Both the m/n = 1/1 component and its higher frequency m/n = 2/2 harmonics are found to be unstable, in good agreement with experimental observations on HL-2A. On the other hand, due to the feature of weak magnetic shear, the mode is also significantly different from bursty fishbones, especially the mode structure, temporal behavior, instability threshold and growth rate dependence on the fast ion gradient. The nonlinear evolution of the mode and the comparison with fishbone bursts are also further investigated.