Eur. Phys. J.

D (2011)
DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2011-20223-0
Regular Article
THE EUROPEAN
PHYSICAL JOURNAL D
Interpretation of tearing mode physics from ECE temperature
uctuations associated with magnetic islands and Mirnov signals
D. Brunetti
1,2
, E. Lazzaro
1,a
, F. de Luca
1,2
, S. Nowak
1
, and G. Gervasini
1
1
IFP-CNR, Associazione Euratom-ENEA-CNR per la Fusione, Via R. Cozzi 53, Milan, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit a degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 16, Milan, Italy
Received 18 April 2011 / Received in nal form 14 July 2011
Published online 13 September 2011 c EDP Sciences, Societ`a Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2011
Abstract. The experimental identication of the physical mechanisms behind the rotating magnetic helical
modes with low numbers m, n which appear at magnetic surfaces where q = m/n is an elusive task. We
discuss here a theoretical principle of a combined analysis of magnetic Mirnov signals and of electron
cyclotron emission signals that can shed light on the underlying physics of these perturbations.
1 Introduction
The reliability of tokamak operation, in view of thermonu-
clear fusion applications, requires a robust monitoring of
the evolution of the discharge, that should be based on
measurements of a variety of signals originated by the
plasma. Broadly speaking, useful information on the dis-
charge state can be obtained from the radiative signals
from the plasma interior and from magnetic signals that
can be detected by measurements outside the plasma.
Some of the observable signals are related to the stable
uctuations of the magnetic equilibrium state but often
a variety on unstable perturbations arise. These should
be identied and controlled to prevent deterioration of
the performance or even collapse of the current carrying
channel. The task of controlling instabilities ultimately re-
quires development of real time detection techniques for
the relevant state variables, c, but also the oine anal-
ysis and interpretation of the signals associated with in-
stabilities is an important tool for physics understanding
and eventually for the planning and governance of the
tokamak experiments. In particular it is of great interest
to develop means of detection and interpretation of the
rotating magnetic helical modes with low numbers m, n
which tear the magnetic structure of the equilibrium sur-
faces where q = m/n. We propose a theoretical principle of
combined analysis of magnetic Mirnov signals and electron
cyclotron emission based on the constrained minimisation
of the mean square discrepancy between measurements
and prediction. The method aims at the interpretation of
the state of tearing stability in intershot analysis of a toka-
mak experiment. The stability of tearing modes (of order
m, n) that are driven by current density distortions in the
resistive regime or by local bootstrap current decit in the
a
e-mail: lazzaro@ifp.cnr.it
low collisionality regime is generally described in terms of
a stability index related to the available free energy [1].
Due to the nature of the ideal MHD equations as the
rational surface is approached, the mode eigenfunction
in the exterior region exhibits a singular behavior at the
rational surface. Namely, the general linear solution has a
jump discontinuity in the perturbed magnetic ux across
the rational surface. This discontinuity is quantied by the
parameter

0
of the classical tearing mode theory, dened
by

0
= lim
0

r
(r
s
+)
r
(r
s
)
(r
s
)
, (1)
where is the helical magnetic ux and r
s
is the position
of the rational surface resonant to m, n perturbations.
This crucial parameter cannot be easily obtained from
experimental measurements, because so far obtaining the
relevant tearing eigenfunction is a very indirect model-
ing process, anchored only to external magnetic measure-
ments that in fact provide only information at the am-
plitude and frequency of the perturbations at the plasma
boundary. We consider here an alternative source of infor-
mation, coming from the plasma interior, in the form of
ECE emission signals of the radiative temperature T
e
(r, t),
that in presence of a magnetic island are characteristi-
cally deformed. An ECE heterodyne radiometer with an
array of many (often > 50) channels is nowadays generally
used for measurements of T
e
(r, t) proles [2]. For instance
on JET this apparatus guarantees a spatial resolution of
1 cm, better than a typical island width. The angular sep-
aration between the positions of two channels with respect
to the magnetic axis can be used to determine the poloidal
mode number, to supplement the information provided by
the magnetic pickup coils.
Techniques of cross correlation of magnetic and mul-
tiarray signals from ECE, systems have been successfully
tested to provide the mode localization [36].
2 The European Physical Journal D
To make use of these signals it is nonetheless neces-
sary to rely on a theoretical model of the tearing modes
and rotating magnetic islands in a tokamak, on which
there is a well developed literature. Early work on this
subject was based on assuming certain analytic trial func-
tion for the temperature distribution within a magnetic is-
land [7]. Similar ad hoc tting procedures have been used
recently [8] to investigate the magnetic spectrum of NTM
and mode coupling on JET. Here we adopt the point of
view that the problem of reconstruction of the tearing
mode structure from measurements belongs to the class
of inverse problems that are generally ill-posed [9]. Their
solution can be sought by adding, in a mathematically
consistent way, relevant physical constraints that allow to
dene a closed problem for a set of control parameters. In
order to associate the measured local temperature uctu-
ations with the magnetic tearing perturbations we assume
that the temperature follows adiabatically the lagrangian
uid displacement of the tearing mode. Accordingly we
present here a new formulation of the problem based on
the minimization of the mean square discrepancy between
the pointwise measurements of the temperature uctua-
tions and the theoretical prediction, subject to the con-
straint that the Lagrangian displacement is not an ad hoc
trial function but results from the solution of the appro-
priate tearing mode equation, that includes the most im-
portant details of the equilibrium geometry and depends
on some free control parameter. The solution to such a
problem, consists in determining the optimal set of these
parameters that permit to reconstruct the spatial shape
of the magnetic perturbation, expressed through the mag-
netic ux (r, t) and its stability index

0
. In Section 2
the formulation of the classical tearing mode eigenproblem
is formulated in curvilinear coordinates appropriate for a
representation of tokamak with a noncircular cross sec-
tion and the sensitivity of the eigenfunctions to geometric
eects is briey discussed. Section 4 presents the iden-
tication problem in terms of the constrained minimiza-
tion of a suitable cost functional; the numerical procedure
ECEtear is briey described and the test of identication
of a known input is presented. In the last section the code
is applied to real experimental data and the identication
of the plasma state is discussed.
2 Tearing mode eigenproblem in curvilinear
geometry
The magnetostatic equilibrium of a tokamak of major ra-
dius R
0
, minor radius a = R
0
with < 1, consists of
isobaric surfaces p = const. that are also nested surfaces
of constant poloidal and toroidal magnetic ux = const.
and F = const. [10]. The tokamak equilibrium magnetic
eld is expressed in terms of the ux functions as:
B = F (2)
associated with the vector potential A = F ,
and expressed in terms of ux coordinates, specied below.
The physical system is described by the Reduced MHD
formalism (RMHD), which has been extended to generic
toroidal congurations in order to take into account signi-
cative terms involving plasma geometric distorsions like
elongation and the Shafranovs shift. The development of
this curvilinear formalism, permits us to reduce model un-
certainties in the problem of identifying the tearing eigen-
function. In addition a new and more complete analytic
expressions of stability index

0
has been found which
allows a quick evaluation from equilibrium data. A conve-
nient parametric representation of a equilibrium with an
elliptical cross section can be given in cylindrical coordi-
nates (R, , Z) referred to the main symmetry axis:
R = R
0
+r cos +
s
(r) E(r) cos (3)
Z = r sin +E(r) sin (4)
where r is a ux variable, , are the geometric poloidal
and toroidal angles;
s
(r) e E(r), of order , represent
here, respectively, the Shafranov shift of each nested iso-
bar and its elongation. The coordinates (r, , ) can be
transformed into ux surface variables by the rectication
procedure = + (r, ) where is a function of order
, so that to o(), we can substitute in (2)

= (r, )
and determine appropriately [11]. The new parametric
equations for the equilibrium surfaces are then:
R = R
0
+r cos +
s
(r) +rsin (5)
E(r) cos +o(
2
)
Z = r sin rcos +E(r) sin +o(
2
). (6)
The rectifying function is obtained solving the equation

= R
0
r
_
1 +
_
r
R
0
+

s
_
cos +
_
E
r
E

_
cos 2
_

1
rR
0
_
1 2
r
R
0
cos
_
1 (7)
with the notation f

f/r. Integrating equation (7)

and using equations (5), (6) the covariant metric ten-
sor elements g
ij
(= x/q
i
x/q
j
, q
i
= (r, , ) i =
1, 2, 3) [11] associated with the curvilinear coordinates are
expressed in a straightforward manner:
g
rr
= 1 + 2

s
cos 2E

cos 2
g
r
=
_
r
2
R
0
r

s
r
2

s
_
sin
+
_
rE

2
+
3
2
E +
1
2
r
2
E

_
sin 2
g

= r
2
+ 2
r
3
R
0
cos 2r
2

s
cos
+ 2r
2
E

cos 2 (8)
g

= R
2
0
_
1 + 2
r
R
0
cos
_
1

g
=
1
rR
0
_
1 2
r
R
0
cos
_
.
D. Brunetti et al.: Interpretation of tearing mode physics from ECE... 3
Note that r = = 0. These geometric quan-
tities, together with the notation
q
i =
i
= /q
i
, will
be used in the next section in the formulation of the linear
tearing mode problem for generic toroidal, elliptic MHD
equilibrium surfaces.
An extensive literature exists, to which we refer [12]
describing the basic physics of the magnetic perturba-
tions that can grow unstable, because of eld diusion
in a narrow layer across the ux surfaces where the mag-
netic eld lines have a rational winding number (and are
therefore closed, and not ergodic [13]). Such instabilities
that tear the nested isobaric surfaces producing secondary
domains called magnetic islands can be studied consider-
ing periodic perturbations that break the axisymmetry of
the magnetic ux functions:
(r, , ) =
0
(r) +

m,n

m,n
(r) cos(m n) (9)
F(r, , ) = F
0
(r) +

m,n
f
m,n
(r) cos(m n). (10)
Here it is assumed that the helical part of the ux func-
tions is a perturbation O() where is introduced as a
formal smallness parameter. Furthermore a single, dom-
inant (m, n) component of the Fourier expansion is con-
sidered. The governing equation to be considered, are the
component of the Faraday-Ohms law and the equation
for the toroidal vorticity, w = v:
g

_
+v B = J

(11)
w
t
+ (v w) = (J B) (12)
where g

= R
2
[11], is the electrostatic potential,
playing the role of stream function of the transverse ve-
locity eld, v

= B/B
2
and J is the plasma current
density.
Finally the current closure condition J = 0 holds.
The winding pitch of the B eld lines tangent to the =
const. surfaces is given by the ratio of the contravariant
eld component q = B /B and depends only on
the ux surface label: q = q() and B can be expressed
as:
B = ( q) . (13)
On the surfaces where q = m/n, a rational number, heli-
cal perturbations cos(mn) are resonant with the
eld lines pitch and can grow unstable changing the topol-
ogy of the connement system. Through the force balance
condition the magnetic surfaces turn out be isobars and
can be assumed to be also nearly isothermal; in presence
of perturbations such as equations (9), (10) the torque bal-
ance condition (J B) = 0, associated with appropri-
ate boundary conditions, determines the radial structure
of the tearing eigenfunctions. The representation of the
magnetic and velocity elds in terms of the scalar equi-
librium ux and stream functions and their helical
perturbations (Eqs. (9), (10)) are inserted in the equation
(J B) = B J

J B

(14)
which leads to a scalar equation for the generic (m, n)
Fourier component of the perturbation written in curvi-
linear geometry using the metric tensor of equations (8)
and neglecting here coupling with other m

,= m, n

,= n
perturbations. The rst step is to construct the contravari-
ant components of the magnetic eld and the contravari-
ant toroidal current: with the usual toroidal ordering
f
m,n
= o(
2
)
m,n
, we express the magnetic eld in this
way:
B =
_

,
1

r
,
1

r
F
0
_
(15)
and

0
J

= [ ( )] = (g

(16)
where, explicitely the r.h.s. is given by:

=
_
g

2
g
r

_
g
r

g
_

_
g
r

g
_

_
g
rr

_
. (17)
At the equilibrium, the magnetic uxes are function only
of the ux label r, so the expressions for B
i
eq
and J

eq
are easily derived. The parallel gradient operator can be
expressed as:
B =
r
F
0
r +
= B

+ [, ()] (18)
where [A, B] = 1/

g (
r
A

A
r
B) are the
Poisson brackets.
Then using expressions (15), (18), equation (14) can
be now written as:
B J

J B

=
1

0
B

J B

=
1

0
(B

+ [,

]) J B

= 0. (19)
Then, after some algebra, the linearized form of equa-
tion (19) can be written as:
0 =

0
(

+q

0
)

0
)

j
r
_
F

g
_

_
F

g
_
. (20)
Here is the rst order perturbation ux and the con-
travariant components of the perturbation current are ex-
pressed through :

0
j
r
=
g
r
g

r
(21)

0
j

=
g
r
g

r

g
rr
g

. (22)
Expanding the various terms of equation (20) in a dou-
ble Fourier series in and , inserting expression (9) and
4 The European Physical Journal D
assuming for the moment that mode coupling can be ne-
glected to leading order in , the equation for a single,
uncoupled m, n tearing mode is obtained:
(mnq)

m,n
mq

0
)

m,n
= 0 (23)
where

=
_
1

g
_
g

_
m
2
_
g
rr
g
_

_
1

_
g
r

g
__

2im
_
g
r
g
_

im
_
1

g
_
_
g
r

g
_

_
g
rr

g
_
__

and ) = 1/(2)
_

d(). The solution of this equa-

tion, with appropriate boundary conditions, in the ideal
MHD region, away from the singular layer r = r
s
where
m nq(r
s
) = 0, gives the outer tearing mode eigen-
function [12], which we consider the state variable of
the system. It is well known that the complete linear tear-
ing mode dispersion relation requires matching asymptoti-
cally the solution of equation (23) with an inner solution
within the resistive-inertial boundary layer. This part of
the problem has been fully worked but will be discussed
elsewhere since it goes beyond the scope of the present
paper.
The characteristic asymptotic matching parameter is
the linear tearing mode instability index

0
that can be
evaluated from the outer solution equation (23); analysing
this equation in a neighbourhood of r = r
s
, expanding
m nq mq

s
/q
s
(r r
s
) and setting x = r r
s
(the
subscript s indicates that the quantity is calculated in
r = r
s
), after some algebra one obtains:
x

m,n
+
q
2
s
q

0
)

s
F

0
(r
s
)

m,n
= 0. (24)
The coecients carrying the information on the geometry
of the equilibrium are then dened:
= g

/g)
s
, = m
2
g
rr
/g)
s
, =
q
2
s
q

0
)

s
F

0
(r
s
)
=
_
1

g
_
g

g
_

_
s

_
1

_
g
r

g
__
s
and equation (24) becomes
x
_

m,n
+

m,n

m,n
_
+
m,n
= 0. (25)
With a Liouville transformation of
m,n
and a rescaling
of x

m,n
= u(x) exp
_


2
dx

, z = 2
_

2
4
2
+

x,
and dening = /
_
2
_

2
/4
2
+/
_
, one obtains a
Whittaker equation for u(x):

2
z
u +
_

1
4
+

z
_
u = 0. (26)
The non vanishing solutions at x = 0 that fulll the
boundary conditions are u(z) = C

W
,1/2
(z), where
signs stand for the regions x > 0 and x < 0 respec-
tively. By evaluating the derivatives in the two intervals
and inserting in (1), one obtains the novel analytical ex-
pression

0
= 2
_

2
4
2
+

() cot () (27)
that extends previous results [1] with inclusion of toroidal
and shaping eects. Other benets of the detailed curvi-
linear formulation of the problem will be apparent in the
next section. The second term of equation (24) is propor-
tional to the local gradient of the equlibrium (0-order)
toroidal current (Eq. (16)) and it is known with the ac-
curacy of the (independent) equilibrium reconstruction:
both the current prole and the geometric coecients en-
tering the metrics can be used as control parameters of
the problem.
3 Temperature perturbations associated
with the tearing modes structure
The tearing mode eigenfunction dened by equation (23)
is linked to the ideal Lagrangian displacement

r
= (r) cos (m n) ,
by the relation
(r) =
(r)

0
(1 nq(r)/m)
. (28)
For a fully toroidal description of the temperature uc-
tuation, we should solve the heat equation written in the
appropriate geometry, i.e.:

i
_

g
_

||

||
T +

T
_
i
_
= 0 (29)
where
||
= B/B
2
B ,

=
||
and both

||
are not constant. However, the solution of this equation
is beyond the scope of this paper, so we will use the ex-
pressions derived in references [14,15], which are a good
approximation in the limit of a large parallel conductivity
in a narrow layer. It is possible to exploit the information
provided by the ECE diagnostics of electron temperature
to reconstruct the structure of the eigenfunction (r) con-
sidering, along the lines of references [4,14] that a temper-
ature perturbation of an equilibrium prole T
0
(r) can be
associated with the Lagrangian displacement by
T(r, ) = T
0
= T

0
(r) cos (30)
D. Brunetti et al.: Interpretation of tearing mode physics from ECE... 5
where = mn, and we identify T(r) = T

0
(r). For
the purpose of the present work it is sucient to assume
that the radial shape of the temperature perturbation is
a function of few scalar parameters:
T(r) =

W
2
16
S
r
T

0
(r)
nq/m
1nq/m

(r), [x[ W
1.2W
2
4W
2
c
T

0
(r
s
)x, [x[ W
c
W
2
16
T

0
(rs)
x
, [x[ > W
c
(31)
where x = r r
s
. Here the parameter W represents the
width of the temperature plateau observable in the T
e
pro-
le across the rational surface radius r
s
, when a nonlinear
tearing mode island is developed; W
c
is a scale length asso-
ciated with the ratio of the parallel to perpendicular heat
conductivity and S = r
s
q

s
/q
s
is the shear length. The
function

(r) is the tearing eigenfunction, normalized to
one at the rational surface, which contains the information
about the geometry of the system.
Although these macroscopic deformation of the T
e
pro-
le pertain to a nonlinear stage of the instability, the
underlying linear tearing mode characteristics can be re-
trieved, inspired by some of the ideas of reference [7]: es-
pecially in the case of a neoclassical mode it is consistent
to assume that the classical instability index in the pres-
ence of an island with nite width has nearly the same
value and sign as when no island is present. A selection of
the parameters appearing in the piecewise expression (31)
as well as some of those pertaining to the MHD equilib-
rium and present in equation (23) are to be used as con-
trol parameters of an inverse problem of identication of
the tearing mode structure from the tting experimental
measurements. Considering that experimental ECE sig-
nals are aected by limited spatial resolution and nite
measurements errors, and the theoretical predictions are
necessarily aected by modelling uncertainties, the task
to be addressed requires a predictive model as accurate as
possible: to this end the previous section was dedicated to
include in the model eects of realistic geometry to which
the state variable will be shown to be sensitive.
Figure 1 displays as an example the dierence in the
shape of the eigenfunction between a case that includes
nite aspect ratio toroidal geometry eects and the cylin-
drical approximation, with the consequent dierent val-
ues of the instability parameter: for the cylindrical case

cyl
= 0.9, while in the toroidal case with shifted sur-
faces

tor
= 5.4.
4 Formulation of the inverse problem
of reconstruction of the tearing mode
eigenfunction
The problem addressed is the minimization, in terms of
a control vector c = q
0
, E,
s
, W, W
c
, . . ., of the mean
square derence between pointwise ECE T
e
uctuation
measurements over an interval of observation points (R
1
<
R
s
< R
2
, Z = 0) (see Eq. (3)), and the values predicted by
S
C
E
0
1
1
0
0
2
4
Fig. 1. (Color online) Solutions of equation (23) for the mode
m = 2, n = 1, q(r) = 1 + 2.5(r/a)
2
in cylindrical geometry
(thin dashed red line, label C) and in toroidal geometry with
circular shifted magnetic surfaces (continuous blue line, label
S) and concentric elongated magnetic sufaces (thick dashed
brown curve, label E) with = 0.33, all normalized to the
unity at the rational surface. The dot-dashed curve represents
the prole of the safety factor; a is the plasma minor radius.
the theoretical model taking into account the constraints
imposed by the solution of the tearing state equation (23)
and the expression (31). This problem belongs to the large
class of inverse problems, which are usually ill posed and
are tackled by special optimization techniques to obtain a
robust automatic numerical solution. A cost functional is
dened as
(, c) =
N

i=1
1
2
[[T ((R
i
) , c)
theory
T (R
i
)
exp
[[
2
;
(32)
the constraint is represented by the linear equation (23)
symbolically written as

L
m,n
Q(c
1
, c
2
, c
3
)
m,n
= 0 (33)
where

L = (mnq)

, Q(c
i
) = mq

0
)

/F

0
, associated
with boundary conditions

m,n
(r = 0) = 0,

m,n
(r r
s
) r
m
and matched to expression (31) T (R, c
4
, c
5
).
The constrained minimization of corresponds for-
mally to the free minimization of an extended functional

= +
_
,

L
m,n
Q
m,n
_
where is the formal ad-
joint function of the state and plays the role of contin-
uous Lagrange multiplier [16]. Here for the purpose of an
explorative study we adopt a simplied, yet eective and
robust technique that avoids the explicit determination of
the adjoint state.
The dierential equation (23) is solved numerically by
an accurate 4th order Runge-Kutta algorithm and a shoot-
ing method starting from the plasma edge r = a towards
the rational surface and then again from r = r
s
to
r
s
, with a boundary condition

m,n
(r = a) = b,

m,n
(r = a) = mb

m,n
() = c
m
,

m,n
() = cm
m1
6 The European Physical Journal D
0.85 1 1.15
q
0
2. 10
8
4. 10
8
6. 10
8
8. 10
8

(a)
0.9
q
0
1.1
0.1

s
0.85
2 10
4

5 10
5
(b)
Fig. 2. (Color online) (a) Shows the sensitivity of the func-
tional to the variation of q(0), while (b) shows the sensitivity
both to q(0) and s.
determining the shooting parameter c from the require-
ment of continuity of
m,n
(r) at r = r
s
; here b is a con-
stant related to the value of the magnetic eld perturba-
tion measured by the Mirnov coils at r = a. Since for given
parameters the solution is very fast and accurate, we have
chosen, as a convenient and robust procedure, to calculate
in parallel, for a set of varied control parameters, the cor-
responding varied states
(j)
m,n
and the associated values
of the cost functional (j 3). Subsequently the minimum
of the functionals is looked for and the cycle is iterated up
to absolute minimisation. This procedure has been tested
initially considering a single control parameter c
1
= q(0),
which is an equilibrium quantity known with a large un-
certainty (30%) [17] and therefore suitable to be used as
adjustable parameter. In the subsequent gures, Figure 2a
and Figure 2b, an analysis is presented of a self consistency
test of identication of a known, assigned given, tearing
perturbation (with q
true
(0) = 1,
true
s
= 0.5) using as
control parameters q(0) and
s
. In order to assess the re-
sponse of the algorithm to the errors in the input data, the
temperature uctuation prole used for the test has been
altered with errors of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%. The control
parameters q(0) and
s
have been identied with a cor-
responding uncertainty shown in Figure 3. It is apparent
that the a role of q(0) in the tearing mode identication
is rather weak, although not negligible; the sensitivity to
the information on the Shafranovs shift is more crucial
and future improvements will include as control param-
eter the local current shear [18] as well as give credible
weights to the dierent types of input data. Presently
with the limitation imposed by the resolution of avail-
able ECE measurements it has been still possible to in-

2 4 6 8 10
Error
0.1
0.2
0.3
qq
0
,
s
Fig. 3. (Color online) Relative errors for the safety factor q(0)
(triangles) and for the Shafranovs shift parameters s (stars).
The Shafranovs shift was pametrized with s(r) = s(1
r
2
).
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
1.5
2.5
3.5
0.10
0.14
0.08
0.04
0.06
0.12
0.02
Fig. 4. (Color online) The temperature proles for the JET
discharge #74 529 in the presence of mode m = 2, n = 1 at
t = 48.414 s. The dashed line represents the equilibrium prole
(KK1), the thin continuous line is the perturbed prole (KK3)
while the thick red one is the absolute value of the dierence
between them. The temperature uctuation associated with
the magnetic island is clearly visible.
terpret data on classical and neoclassical tearing modes
occurring in the JET tokamak. Figure 4 shows a typi-
cal behaviour of the temperature uctuation for a JET
discharge: the equilibrium temperature prole is obtained
with the Michelson interferometer (KK1 measurements),
while the perturbed one is obtained with the eterodyne ra-
diometer (KK3 measurements): from these two proles is
also possible to obtain q(r). In view of equation (31), gen-
erally speaking, given the island width evaluated from the
distance between the two peaks in the temperature uc-
tuation, the most suitable parameters to be used in the
identication problem, are the Shafranovs shift and the
ratio between parallel and perpendicular heat conductivi-
ties: the region near the resonant surface, where the tem-
perature uctuation is linear in the variable x, is a good
test to evaluate the ratio

/
||
, while the outer region,
proportional to the tearing eigenfunction, is more sensitive
to
s
variation. However for the case shown in Figure 4,
the surface q = 2 is shifted with respect to the O point, so
the parameter that we should use for the identication, is
the ratio between the heat conductivities, which gives the
slope of the temperature uctuation prole in the region
[x[ W
c
, where we expect that its linear behaviour is
given by the second equation of (31): the ECEtear rou-
tine was executed and the minimized functional is asso-
ciated with the parameters

0
= 1.7 and

/
||
10
7
,
D. Brunetti et al.: Interpretation of tearing mode physics from ECE... 7
giving W
c
/r
s
= 0.21. The Shafranovs shift parameter,
calculated from the minimized functional in the outer re-
gion where the temperature uctuation is described by the
ideal uid displacement, is
s
1: however in this partic-
ular case the value of

0
is not so aected by the variation
of
s
, so the two relevant parameters which we consider
are

0
and

/
||
. Future improvements in this model
for the temperature uctuations associated with the tear-
ing instabilities, will include the eects due to deformed
islands [19,20] and transport eects which involve a degra-
dation of the plasma energy with a consequent reduction
of the core temperature (belt model [21]).
5 Conclusions
A new procedure has been proposed and tested in a pre-
liminary form to address the inverse problem of exploit-
ing the information provided by the ECE diagnostics of
electron temperature associated with observable tearing
mode perturbations, to reconstruct the structure of the
latter. A vector of variables that includes both equilib-
rium and tearing stability information can be identied
by a constrained minimization technique. The sensitivity
of the model to the equilibrium geometry has been con-
sidered and tests of response to input errors have been
made. Preliminary applications to real experimental data
have been made and show the possibility of improving the
assessment of the plasma state.
This work, supported by the European Communities under
the contract of Association between EURATOM and Istituto
di Fisica del Plasma P. Caldirola, EURATOM-ENEA-CNR
Association, was carried out within the framework of the
European Fusion Development Agreement. The views and
opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reect those of
the European Commission.
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