Fast-ion-driven vertical modes in magnetically confined toroidal plasmas

A new type of fast particle instability involving axisymmetric modes in magnetic fusion tokamak plasmas is presented. The relevant dispersion relation involves three roots. One corresponds to a vertical plasma displacement that, in the absence of active feedback stabilization, grows on the wall resistivity time scale. The other two, oscillating close to the poloidal Alfven frequency, are normally damped by wall resistivity. The resonant interaction with fast ions can drive the oscillatory roots unstable. Resonance conditions, stability thresholds and experimental evidence are discussed.