Classical diffusion of a plasma in toroidal systems

Abstract

The author considers the effects of plasma rotation on classical diffusion in toroidal systems. Within the framework of the hydrodynamic description of a plasma it is shown that, if the pressure gradient is not too great (ρ/a ≪ Bθ/Bz, where ρ is the ion Larmor radius, a−1 = d ln p/dr, Bθ is the azimuthal field and Bz the longitudinal field), then there is only one direction in which the plasma column can rotate with a velocity of the order of the drift velocity and at the same time become negatively charged – the diffusion coefficients differing only by a numerical factor of the order of unity from those previously known. It is also shown that there occurs in the plasma a transverse electric field which is much stronger than the Pfirsch-Schluter field and the direction of which depends on the path length of the particles.