Alfven wave instabilities in a finite-β, current-carrying plasma and effects of monoenergetic fusion products

The fully electromagnetic, Maxwell-Vlasov theory is employed to obtain criteria for occurrences of Alfven wave instabilities in a finite-β, current-carrying plasma. It is shown that Alfven waves within a finite band of wave vectors may grow. Monoenergetic fusion products may excite relatively short wavelength modes as predicted by the previous theory. However longer wavelength modes may also be excited which are expected to be more effective in causing anomalous transport. (author)