Analysis of stochastic magnetic fields formed by the application of resonant magnetic perturbations on MAST and comparison with experiment

In MAST experiments with applied resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs), clear reduction in line-averaged density has been observed in a wide range of L-mode plasmas when there is an alignment between the perturbation and the equilibrium magnetic field that maximizes the size of the resonant components of the applied magnetic field, as well as in a few H-mode plasmas but with a much stronger sensitivity to this alignment. This density pump-out is the result of increased particle transport, which is thought to be caused by the formation of a stochastic magnetic field in the plasma edge. This paper presents an analysis of the magnetic field structures formed by the application of n = 3 RMPs on MAST, including various parameters characterizing the degree of stochasticity in the plasma edge. Values for these parameters are calculated and compared with the amount of density pump-out observed in MAST experiments. It is found that density pump-out is fairly well correlated with some of the parameters calculated using vacuum modelling, but none of them provides a single threshold value for pump-out that applies to both L- and H-mode plasmas. Plasma response modelling provides a robust criterion for density pump-out that applies both to L- and H-mode plasmas.