1. Experimental Evidence of a Zonal Magnetic Field in a Toroidal Plasma
- Author
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Fujisawa, A, Itoh, K, Shimizu, A, Nakano, H, Ohshima, S, Iguchi, H, Matsuoka, K, Okamura, S, Minami, T, Yoshimura, Y, Nagaoka, K, Ida, K, Toi, K, Takahashi, C, Kojima, M, Nishimura, S, Isobe, M, Suzuki, C, Akiyama, T, Nagashima, Y, Itoh, S-I, and Diamond, PH
- Subjects
Mathematical Sciences ,Physical Sciences ,Engineering ,General Physics - Abstract
A zonal magnetic field is found in a toroidal plasma. The magnetic field has a symmetric bandlike structure, which is uniform in the toroidal and poloidal directions and varies radially with a finite wavelength of mesoscale, which is analogous to zonal flows. A time-dependent bicoherence analysis reveals that the magnetic field should be generated by the background plasma turbulence. The discovery is classified as a new kind of phenomenon of structured magnetic field generation, giving insight into phenomena such as dipole field generation in rotational planets.
- Published
- 2007