Linear stability analysis of a hot plasma in a solid torus (Q2436338)

The authors consider a collisionless plasma inside a torus, modeled by the relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell system. Toroidal coordinates are used; it is assumed that the four potentials \(\Phi\), \(A_{r}\), \(A_{\theta}\) and \(A_{\varphi}\) are independent of the toroidal angle \(\varphi\). Furthermore, the energy and angular momentum are constant along the particle trajectories. The surface of the torus is perfectly conducting and it reflects the particles specularly. Under the assumptions that the particle distributions and the electromagnetic fields depend only on the cross-sectional variables of the torus, and a certain linearization, sharp criteria for the stability of equilibria are provided.