Ideal Magnetohydrodynamic Stability of Static Field Reversed Configurations

Abstract

The ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability of static field-reversed configurations is investigated. For the first time, the eigenvector fields and eigenvalues for a variety of global modes are found by applying the Rayleigh-Ritz technique to the variational principle using a verifiably complete basis set. This method is applied to a wide range of equilibria and mode types, including kink and sausage-like modes, modes with intermediate azimuthal mode number, and higher-harmonic modes with respect to the minor radius structure. The findings include the following. Modes with intermediate azimuthal mode number are somewhat more unstable than the well-known tilt mode. The tilt is not stabilized by proper current profile and separatrix shape. The inverse scaling of the tilt growth rate with the elongation (found in previous studies) is not valid in general. This suggests that large elongation alone cannot be relied on for stability when non-MHD corrections are added.