Large-scale stationary convection in a cylindrical current-carrying plasma

Abstract

Nonideal effects such as viscosity and thermal conductivity on the stability of a cylindrical current‐carrying plasma in a shearless magnetic field are studied. It is shown that for magnetic fields satisfying Bθ/Bz ≫1, nonideal effects drastically change the shape of the unstable spectrum of the ideal case. In particular, there is a physical mode at k∥ =m−nq=0 which, for a given value of the product of the coefficient of perpendicular viscosity and thermal conductivity, triggers large‐scale steady convection in the plasma. This state is shown to be the analog in a plasma of the well‐known stationary convection in ordinary hydrodynamics.