Hot target plasma was obtained in AMBAL-M open trap. In the present work, t
ransverse current at plasma periphery, peculiarities of longitudinal curren
t flow in plasma, and energy balance of electrons in a mirror were studied.
The consideration allowed to find out the mechanism of electron heating up
to high temperature. It was detected that this "non-joule" non-turbulent ef
fective heating of electrons was related to the current flow and the experi
ment features.