Bifurcation phenomena and the radial electric field in a nonaxisymmetric plasma

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Abstract
The radial electric field in a nonaxisymmetric plasma is known to be a multivalued function of the plasma state. It is shown that the theorem of minimum entropy production rate cannot be used to distinguish between different electric field solutions. The possibility of bifurcation phenomena in the coupled electric field, density, and temperature equations are examined. It is shown that the functional dependence of the plasma source can strongly influence the type of bifurcation that can occur.