Behavior of axisymmetric density fluctuations in TCV*

Axisymmetric density fluctuations, either with a radially coherent or dispersive nature, are routinely observed in the TCV tokamak and experimentally interpreted as Geodesic Acoustic Modes (GAMs). We use local and global GENE simulations to investigate their behavior. With a simplified physical model, neglecting impurities and using heavy electrons, simulations reproduce the observed behavior. Simulations allow to conclude that the modification of the safety factor q alone cannot explain the transition between these two different fluctuation regimes, which thus appear as a consequence of variations of other parameters, including collisionality and finite machine size effects. The behavior of the radially coherent GAM is further investigated with high-realism GENE simulations. With this set-up, local simulations reproduce the experimental transport level at different radii while matching the observed GAM frequency at the location where the mode peaks. Global high-realism runs, aiming at reproducing the radial extent of the fluctuations, will be discussed as well.