LOWER HYBRID HEATING RESULTS AT 500 MHz IN WEGA IN THE LIGHT OF ION STOCHASTIC HEATING AND ELECTRON LANDAU DAMPING

ABSTRACT: The previously obtained results of lower hybrid heating in the WEGA Tokamak (f = 500 MHZ, P HF ≤ 130 kW) are reconsidered in the light of recent theories on ion stochastic heating and electron Landau damping. The parametric dependences of the observed hot ion mean energy and the HF power coupled to the ions and electrons are found to correspond to the theore -tical dependences. Under reasonable hypotheses, good quantitative agreement is found. In particular, ion and electron heating may be attributed to the same coupled HF spectrum.