Chaotic scattering and self-organization in spheromak sustainment

Using electrostatic helicity injection, flux core spheromak sustainment was analyzed in resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). In the spheromak concept, the magnetic configuration was spontaneously created by the plasma dynamics. The 3D MHD activity created new structures which break the axisymmetry of the externally applied fields. The geometry was idealized as a cylinder of finite length with magnetic flux through the end caps, which were held at a fixed potential V. As V was increased, the kink became stronger, the tori was destroyed, and the field lines exhibited chaotic scattering. The distribution of field line lengths, related to confinement and parallel current density, was analyzed.