EFFECT OF RIGID TOROIDAL ROTATION ON THE STABILITY OF A TOKAMAK PLASMA TO TEARING MODES

The stability of tearing modes in the presence of a rigid toroidal rot ation of the plasma is examined. The effect of rotation is modeled by a centrifugal force, which in the cylindrical limit reduces to a unifo rm force transverse to the plasma column. The influence of this centri fugal force on the outer region matching data Delta', which provides a measure of the energy available for driving the tearing mode, is nume rically investigated. It is found that the stability properties of the mode in the presence of the flow are sensitive to the equilibrium den sity profile. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.