A mechanism for plasma heating in driven relaxing magnetic field configurations

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Abstract
Magnetic configurations used for laboratory plasma confinement and those naturally occurring in the solar corona are both driven systems: in the former, the energy input is generally supplied by externally applied voltages; in the latter, by boundary fluid motions in the photosphere. Moreover, solar corona dynamics has been described in a very similar way to Reversed Field Pinch dynamics. Using these analogies as a starting point, a description is presented, supported by experimental results, of plasma heating in driven partially relaxed RFP configurations resulting from energy dissipation during reconnection processes. The power deposited in the plasma through this mechanism adds to the Joule heating of the mean field dissipation and may also provide a direct channel for ion heating through viscous dissipation.