Shafranov's virial theorem and magnetic plasma confinement

DOI10.1088/0305-4470/35/11/101MaRDI QIDQ4545253zbMATHOpenAlexFDO

Authors L. D. Faddeev, Lisa Freyhult, Antti J. Niemi, Peter Rajan

Publication date 15 August 2002

Published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0009061

zbMATH Keywords

scalingfield theorysoliton stabilitytwo-component plasmamagnetohydrodynamical equilibriumlocalized solitonsfinite-density plasma

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Magnetohydrodynamics and electrohydrodynamics (76W05) Statistical mechanics of plasmas (82D10) Ionized gas flow in electromagnetic fields; plasmic flow (76X05)

Abstract: Shafranov's virial theorem implies that nontrivial magnetohydrodynamical equilibrium configurations must be supported by externally supplied currents. Here we extend the virial theorem to field theory, where it relates to Derrick's scaling argument on soliton stability. We then employ virial arguments to investigate a realistic field theory model of a two-component plasma, and conclude that stable localized solitons can exist in the bulk of a finite density plasma. These solitons entail a nontrivial electric field which implies that purely magnetohydrodynamical arguments are insufficient for describing stable, nontrivial structures within the bulk of a plasma.

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