2012/06/11 by Giorgio Sonnino, Sonnino, Giorgio, A. Cardinali +5
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum chaos and dynamical systems
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1206.2373
openalex publication_date 2012/06/11 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Rotation of tokamak-plasmas, not at the mechanical equilibrium, is investigated utilizing a theorem of thermodynamics, established by Prigogine. This theorem, suitably applied to toroidally confined plasmas, suggests that the global barycentric rotations of the plasma, in the toroidal and poloidal directions, are pure reversible processes. In case of negligible viscosity and by supposing the validity of the balance equation for the internal forces, we show that the plasma, even not in the mechanical equilibrium, may freely rotate as a rigid body in the toroidal direction with an angular frequency with an angular frequency, which may be higher than the neoclassical estimation. In addition, its toroidal rotation may cause the plasma to rotate globally in the poloidal direction at a speed faster than the expression found by the neoclassical theory. The eventual configuration is attained when the toroidal and poloidal angular frequencies reaches the values that minimize dissipation.