MHD instabilities occurring near/at the transport barrier

Abstract

In configurations with transport barriers the improved edge and core confinement leads to a large pressure gradient and large edge bootstrap current density which often drive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities terminating the discharge or reducing the discharge performance. The edge and the core transport barriers deteriorate or are completely lost. In this paper, recent experimental and theoretical developments concerning MHD instabilities occurring near/at the edge and the core transport barriers are summarized emphasizing the dominant instabilities and the comparison with theory.