Hopf bifurcation for tearing instability in magnetohydrodynamics, theory and numerical results (Q596209)

The authors consider the mathematical problem of plasma stability in a tokamak device. Using the center manifold theorem, the authors prove the existence of successive bifurcations for the equations governing the ``tearing instabilitiy'' of tokamak plasma, in agreement with numerical simulations and experimentally observed magnetic reconnection phenomena. Some results concerning the existence of a two-dimensional global attractor are also mentioned.