Self-organization during spherical torus formation by flux rope merging in the Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak

Merging-compression start-up in the Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak provides an opportunity to investigate the merging of flux ropes through magnetic reconnection, and the self-organization into a single flux rope, in a low-plasma-β, high-Lundquist-number plasma. We present an overview of simulations...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPlasma physics and controlled fusion Vol. 56; no. 6; pp. 64009 - 8
Main Authors Browning, P K, Stanier, A, Ashworth, G, McClements, K G, Lukin, V S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IOP Publishing 01.06.2014
Subjects
Compressibility
Computer simulation
Controlled fusion
flux ropes
Hall MHD
Magnetic flux
magnetic reconnection
Mathematical analysis
Merging
Plasma (physics)
relaxation
spherical tokamak
Tokamak devices
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Merging-compression start-up in the Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak provides an opportunity to investigate the merging of flux ropes through magnetic reconnection, and the self-organization into a single flux rope, in a low-plasma-β, high-Lundquist-number plasma. We present an overview of simulations of this process using the compressible Hall-MHD equations in two dimensions. Preliminary results of an analytical model of the self-organization, assuming a helicity-conserving relaxation to a minimum energy state, are also presented. The relevance of these models to solar plasmas is discussed.
Bibliography:PPCF-100041.R1
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0741-3335
1361-6587
DOI:10.1088/0741-3335/56/6/064009