Abstract: The nonzero inertia of the electron is shown to destabilize pressure-driven ballooning modes in collisionless tokamak plasmas that are stable in the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) approximation. The effect of the electron mass is characterized by the collisionless electron skin depth de=c/ωpe, where ωpe=4πne2/me is the electron plasma frequency. The growth rate of electron inertia ballooning modes increases with the magnitude of de, and also with the magnitude of the ratio β of the plasma thermal pressure to the pressure in the confining magnetic field.
Publication Year: 1999
Publication Date: 1999-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 14
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