Effect of a stochastic electron background on low-m tearing modes

Abstract

The effect of a stochastic electron background on the stability of low-m tearing modes is studied. The coherent direct interaction approximation is applied to the drift-kinetic equation in order to include the effects of current density diffusion, electron density diffusion and magnetic field diffusion in the tearing mode equations. It is found that for the m=1 mode in the collisionless regime the magnetic field diffusion destabilizes the mode further, while in the collisional regime these diffusions may not significantly affect the mode; for the m[ges ]2 modes in the collisional and semicollisional regimes the electron density diffusion stabilizes the modes, while in the collisionless regime the effects of current density diffusion and electron density diffusion may balance each other without significantly affecting the modes.