Stability of a rotating pinch

Abstract

The problem of pinch stabilisation is of interest in connection with plasma confinement and has been the subject matter of various investigations in recent years, (Kruskal andSchwarzschild, Taylor, Shafranov). The theoretical investigations in the past have been restricted to static equilibrium configurations. It is of some interest to explore whether an initial motion of plasma tends to make the pinch more, or less stable than when the fluid velocity is zero. Keeping this in mind let us investigate theaxisymmetric stability of an infinitely long cylindrical plasma column of radiusR rotating uniformly with angular velocityΩ about theZ-axis, the fluid being assumed to the incompressible, inviscid, and of infinite electrical conductivity. The plasma carries a uniform axial current of densityj0 and a uniform axial magnetic fieldH1. The field outside is taken to beH2 inZ-direction and a toroidal component which is continuous across the boundary.