Plasma magnetic insulation
- 29 June 1987
- journal article
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
- Vol. 322 (1563) , 125-131
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1987.0042
Abstract
Theoretically the strong magnetic field of a tokamak should confine electrons and ions in a high-temperature plasma sufficiently well. However, the behaviour of electrons turns out to be anomalous, especially with application of auxiliary heating. This behaviour is discussed in the framework of dimensional analysis and a hypothesis of plasma transition into a relaxed state with a minimal energy subjected to the single constraint, namely conservation of the total current. Plasma tends to relax to the optimal current-density and pressure profiles, any deviation from which results in a additional heat transfer via the micronoise pumping by the magnetic island structure. This effect is more pronounced with an increase of n / I p , where n is the density, I p is the plasma current.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Energy confinement scaling in Tokamaks: some implications of recent experiments with Ohmic and strong auxiliary heatingPlasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 1984
- Relaxation of Toroidal Plasma and Generation of Reverse Magnetic FieldsPhysical Review Letters, 1974