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Updated: May 8, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Intrinsic rotation driven by non-Maxwellian equilibria in Tokamak plasmas
1Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract:
The effect of small deviations from a Maxwellian equilibrium on turbulent momentum transport in tokamak plasmas is considered. These non-Maxwellian features, arising from diamagnetic effects, introduce a strong dependence of the radial flux of cocurrent toroidal angular momentum on collisionality: As the plasma goes from nearly collisionless to weakly collisional, the flux reverses direction from radially inward to outward. This indicates a collisionality-dependent transition from peaked to hollow rotation profiles, consistent with experimental observations of intrinsic rotation.
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