Stability of a plasma confined in a dipole field

Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1998 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.872976· OSTI ID:658485

Kesner, J ^[1]

---

1. Plasma Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

Plasma confined in a magnetic dipole field is stabilized by the expansion of the magnetic flux. The stability of low beta electrostatic modes in a magnetic dipole field is examined when the distribution function is Maxwellian to lowest order. It is shown using a Nyquist analysis that for sufficiently gentle density and temperature gradients the configuration would be expected to be stable to both magnetohydrodynamic and collisionless interchange modes. Furthermore, it is shown that when it is stable to the interchange mode it is also stable to ion temperature gradient and collisionless trapped particle modes, as well as modes driven by parallel dynamics such as the {open_quotes}universal{close_quotes} instability. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 658485
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 5; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ION TEMPERATURE
LOW-BETA PLASMA
MAGNETIC DIPOLES
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
NYQUIST DIAGRAMS
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA INSTABILITY