Macroscopic Stability of Toroidally Confined Fusion Plasmas

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-01800-1
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 368 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Series in Plasma Physics

Macroscopic Stability of Toroidally Confined Fusion Plasmas provides a comprehensive guide to the theory of magnetically confined plasma for fusion. Including the latest developments from the field, the book explores fusion-relevant, toroidal, axisymmetric, magnetic confinement devices, including reversed-field pinches, as well as tokamaks.

It begins by defining the requirements and stability limits of fusion devices, then introduces plasma fluid theory and ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Subsequent chapters examine plasma stability under various conditions, including ideal and resistive effects, and distinguish between outer and inner plasma regions. It analyses axisymmetric and cylindrical equilibria, as well as specific instabilities like ideal external kink modes, ideal internal kink modes, tearing modes and resistive wall modes. The final chapters focus on tokamak stability, including vertical stability and behaviour at finite pressure, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding plasma confinement and instability in fusion systems.

This book is an ideal reference for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and professional scientists who wish to learn more about the macroscopic stability of magnetically confined fusion plasmas.

Key Features

- Provides a complete, and up to date, exposition of macroscopic stability theory.

- Includes novel topics such as three-wave coupling in fusion plasmas.

- Offers a comprehensive treatment of the asymptotic matching approach to plasma stability calculation.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Professional Reference

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fitzpatrick, Richard

Fachgebiete

• Technische Wissenschaften Maschinenbau | Werkstoffkunde Technische Mechanik | Werkstoffkunde Strömungslehre
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Mechanik Kontinuumsmechanik, Strömungslehre
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Elektromagnetismus Magnetismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface. Author. Chapter 1 ¦ Magnetic confinement. Chapter 2 ¦ Plasma fluid theory. Chapter 4 ¦ General ideal-MHD stability. Chapter 5 ¦ General resistive wall mode stability. Chapter 6 ¦ Physics of outer region. Chapter 7 ¦ Axisymmetric instabilities. Chapter 8 ¦ Physics of inner region. Chapter 9 ¦ Ideal stability of cylindrical plasma equilibria. Chapter 10 ¦ Tearing modes in reversed-field pinches. Chapter 11 ¦ Tearing modes in low-pressure tokamaks. Chapter 12 ¦ Vertical stability of tokamaks. Chapter 13 ¦ General stability of high-pressure tokamaks. Bibliography. Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Richard Fitzpatrick is a Professor of Physics at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been a faculty member since 1994. He is a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, a fellow of the American Physical Society, and the author of Maxwell’s Equations and the Principles of Electromagnetism (2008), An Introduction to Celestial Mechanics (2012), Oscillations and Waves: An Introduction (2013). Plasma Physics: An Introduction (2014), Quantum Mechanics (2015), Theoretical Fluid Mechanics (2017), Oscillations and Waves: An Introduction, 2nd Edition (2019), Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (2020), and Newtonian Dynamics: An Introduction (2022). He earned a Master’s degree in physics from the University of Cambridge and a DPhil in astronomy from the University of Sussex.