New method to analyze forced reconnection due to boundary perturbation

A new method is introduced to investigate the forced magnetic reconnection due to a boundary perturbation such as error fields in plasma confinement by use of an integral equation, as a linear initial-value problem. This integral equation is derived from the improved boundary layer theory, which revealed the initial evolution of the new reconnection process. The subsequent evolution to this initial evolution is obtained by numerically solving the integral equation. Since the integral equation takes into account the effect of plasma inertia in the inner layer precisely, it includes the typical time scale of the resistive kink mode and reveals the time evolution of the reconnection at t-τAS1/3. (author)