Paramagnetism and plasma beta in a screw-pinch

Anisotropic resistivity causes paramagnetic effects (Bz'(r) less then 0) in a screw pinch, being basically different to the self-relaxation described by Taylor. We compute, analytically and numerically, the resulting effect on equilibrium in a 1-D straight cylindrical plasma. In particular we compute paramagnetic effects on the plasma radius and on plasma beta. Ohm's law also contains diamagnetic terms; in this paper we consider radial particle diffusion and the Nernst effect. In a Tokamak or rector plasma these effects are shown to be negligible, whereas they may contribute in present ULQ, Extrap and RFP experiments. A basic result is an expression for the coupling between the poloidal and axial magnetic field components with the above effects included. A result of specific importance to the Extrap programme is that plasma current limitation can arise from lack of equilibrium when the plasma radius tends to exceed its upper limit, being defined by a magnetic or material limiter. The paramagnetic effect described in this work lowers the plasma beta further, making D-D reactor depending on safety factors q(a) bigger than 1 seems less attainable. (au)