Equilibrium and Stability of Partial Toroidal Plasma Discharges

Oz, E. ; Myers, C. E. ; Yamada, M. ; Ji, H. ; Kulsrud, R. ; Xie, J.

关键词: BOUNDARY CONDITIONS;    ELECTRIC CURRENTS;    ELECTRODES;    MAGNETIC RECONNECTION;    PLASMA;    STABILITY Equilibrium;    MHD;    Kink Instability;    Space Plasma Physics;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1001678
RP-ID  :  PPPL-4586
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1001678
Others  :  TRN: US1101046

学科分类：原子、分子光学和等离子物理

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The equilibrium and stability of partial toroidal flux ropes are studied in detail in the laboratory, motivated by ubiquitous loop structures on the solar surface. The flux ropes studied here are magnetized arc discharges formed in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX). It is found that these loops robustly maintain their equilibrium on time scales much longer than the Alfven time over a wide range of plasma current, guide eld strength, and angle between electrodes, even in the absence of a strapping fi eld. Additionally, the external kink stability of these flux ropes is found to be governed by the Kruskal-Shafranov limit for a flux rope with line-tied boundary conditions at both ends (q > 1).