Electron radial transport in tandem mirrors in the low collision frequency limit

A variational principle formulation is used to calculate the electron radial transport coefficients in a nonaxisymmetric tandem mirror, in the low collisionality regime. Explicit analytical estimates are given for two important classes of electrons. The implications of symmetry, end currents, and ambipolarity are discussed in detail in order to demonstrate their potentially important effect on the radial particle loss rates