Three-dimensional MHD analysis of heliotron plasma with RMP

The interaction between pressure driven modes and magnetic islands generated by a resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) in the large helical device (LHD) is numerically analyzed. In this analysis, three-dimensional treatment is essential in the equilibrium and dynamics calculations, because the equilibrium pressure profile is deformed by the RMP. The deformation changes the linear mode structure from the interchange type to the ballooning-like type that is localized around the X-point of the island in the equilibrium magnetic field including the RMP. This mode causes a pressure collapse in the nonlinear evolution, which spreads from the X-point to the core. Therefore, the spatial phase of the collapse is fixed to the island geometry. The fixed phase agrees with the LHD experimental results with a natural error field.