Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2009
We have investigated the stability of the screw pinch with the help of the double adiabatic (CGL) equations including the finite Larmor radius effects through the anisotropic pressure tensor. The calculations are approximate, with FLR treated as a first-order correction to the ideal plasma equations. The dispersion relation has been solved for various values of R2 = p∥/p⊥ and α for the rale and imaginary part of the frequency (ω = ωR ± iωI) in three particular cases: (a) μ = 0, the θ-pinch, (b) μ = ∞, the Z-pinch, (c) μ = -α/m, field distubances parallel to the equilibrium field. Here μ is the pitch of the magnetic field in the pressureless plasma surrounding the main column, α is the wave number, m is the azimuthal number, p∥ and p⊥ are plasma pressures along and perpendicular to the magnetic field.