Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Stability of highly shifted equilibria in a large-aspect-ratio tokamak
P-A Gourdain1, S C Cowley, J-N Leboeuf
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California-Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547, USA.
Abstract:
High beta poloidal tokamaks can confine plasma pressures an order of magnitude higher than their low beta poloidal counterparts. The theoretical stability of these high beta poloidal magnetohydrodynamics equilibria was left unresolved for many years. Using modern computational tools, such configurations are now found stable to Mercier, resistive and high-n (ideal and resistive) ballooning criteria as well as fixed and free-boundary modes for a wide range of current density profiles in the framework of a low field large-aspect-ratio machine.
Related Concept Videos
Stability of Equilibrium Configuration
A stable equilibrium occurs when a system tends to return to its original position when given a small displacement, and the potential energy is at its minimum. An example of a stable equilibrium is when a cantilever beam is fixed at one end and a weight is attached to the other end. If the weight...
Oscillations about an Equilibrium Position
Stability of Equilibrium Configuration: Problem Solving
Problem-solving in the context of the stability of equilibrium configuration...
Stability
The stability of an LTI system is determined by the roots of its characteristic equation, known as poles. A system is stable if it produces a bounded...
Stability of structures
Pole and System Stability
Simple poles are unique roots of the denominator polynomial. Each simple pole corresponds to a distinct solution to the system's characteristic equation, typically resulting in exponential decay terms in the system's response.

