Single-fluid stability of stationary plasma equilibria with velocity shear and magnetic shear

Journal Article · Thu Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3247873· OSTI ID:21272702

Miura, Akira ^[1]

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1. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)

By using incompressible single-fluid equations with a generalized Ohm's law neglecting the electron inertia, a linear eigenmode equation for a magnetic field perturbation is derived for stationary equilibria in a slab geometry with velocity and magnetic shears. The general eigenmode equation contains a fourth-order derivative of the perturbation in the highest order and contains Alfven and whistler mode components for a homogeneous plasma. The ratio of the characteristic ion inertia length to the characteristic inhomogeneity scale length is chosen as a small parameter for expansion. Neglecting whistler mode in the lowest order, the eigenmode equation becomes a second-order differential equation similar to the ideal magnetohydrodynamic eigenmode equation except for the fact that the unperturbed perpendicular velocity contains both electric and ion diamagnetic drifts. A sufficient condition for stability against the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability driven by shear in the ion diamagnetic drift velocity is derived and then applied to tokamaks.

• OSTI ID: 21272702
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 16; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALFVEN WAVES
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DISTURBANCES
EQUILIBRIUM
HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY
HOMOGENEOUS PLASMA
MAGNETIC FIELDS
TOKAMAK DEVICES
WHISTLER INSTABILITY