Effects of parallel viscosity on rotation of magnetic islands in tokamaks

Effects of parallel viscosity on rotation of magnetic islands in tokamaks are studied. The Pfirsch–Schlu¨ter regime is considered with following generalization of the results to the plateau and banana regimes. Assuming the parallel viscosity to be prevailing over the perpendicular viscosity, the superdrift magnetic islands are studied. It is found that in this case, first, the electrostatic potential profile function is of the Rutherford-type and, second, in contrast to the cylindrical geometry, the island rotation frequency does not depend on the nonstationarity of the profile function but is determined by a volume integral from the parallel viscosity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]