1.
Phys Rev Lett
; 90(22): 225001, 2003 Jun 06.
Artículo
en Inglés
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-12857315
RESUMEN
In order to understand self-organization in helicity-driven systems, we have investigated the dynamics of low-aspect-ratio toroidal plasmas by decreasing the external toroidal field and reversing its sign in time. Consequently, we have discovered that the helicity-driven toroidal plasma relaxes towards the flipped state. Surprisingly, it has been observed that not only toroidal flux but also poloidal flux reverses sign spontaneously during the relaxation process. The self-reversal of the magnetic fields is attributed to the nonlinear growth of the n=1 kink instability of the central open flux.