Tokamak equilibria with toroidal-current reversal in the plasma core consistent with experimental data

For the first time, tokamak equilibria with negative toroidal current flowing in the plasma core are computed consistently with available measurements from typical current-hole discharges. The equilibrium reconstruction, which leads to non-nested configurations where a system of axisymmetric magnetic islands unfolds, yields an overall good agreement between the computed and experimental plasma-pressure profiles, together with an excellent fit to motional-Stark-effect data. Therefore, considering the accuracy limits of present-day experimental results, care must be exercised when ruling out the existence of tokamak equilibria with central toroidal-current reversal, particularly if relying on reconstruction tools that cannot cope with non-nested configurations.