Turbulent Heating in a Magnetic Neutral Point

Abstract

Anomalous resistivity is observed in a collision-free magnetic neutral point discharge. It appears as a sharp rise (hump) of the voltage between discharge electrodes. This hump appears earlier and its height increases as (i) the plasma density is decreased (ii) the discharge voltage is increased and (iii) the external quadrupole magnetic field is increased. The electron temperature is measured from the absorption method of X-ray.
At the time or the appearance of this hump, the electron temperature rises abruptly up to 10 KeV. This means that the magnetic energy which is supplied from electric energy in the capacity is dissipated and converted into the thermal energy of the plasma.