Ultra-high-beta plasma equilibrium produced by fast plasma flow

Amongst various applications of toroidal non-neutral plasmas, a possibility of producing very high-β plasma, which is suitable for advanced fusion, has been explored. The self-electric field of a non-neutral plasma can generate a strong shear flow. When the flow velocity is comparable to the Alfven speed (which is smaller than the ion thermal speed, if β>1), a high-β equilibrium can be produced in which the plasma pressure is primarily balanced by the dynamic pressure of the flow. This configuration is described by the theory of Beltrami/Bernoulli conditions. A modest application of the theory is the H-mode boundary layer which also induces a coupling of plasma flow, magnetic field and electric field. (author)