Amplification of a turbulence driven seed magnetic island by bootstrap current

The amplification of a turbulence driven seed magnetic island by the bootstrap current is investigated numerically in a reduced magnetohydrodynamic model as a possible additional channel for the excitation and development of a neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) in a tokamak. The novel mechanism for such an excitation involves a two-step process, namely, the formation of a seed island due to a nonlinear beating of interchange turbulence modes followed by an amplification of the seed island by the bootstrap current leading to a large saturated island. Our study indicates that the level of turbulence controls both the critical seed island size and the saturated island size.