What are traveling convection vortices?

Traveling convection vortices (TCV) are studied using a theoretical ideal M HD model for the equilibrium and perturbed plasma. In this first approach, we do not consider the viscosity and the flow of the plasma column in the e quilibrium. The linearized equations are salved using normal mode analysis. The solutions show an m = 1 kink instability which is in good agreement wi th the experimental data. It is calculated numerically a growth rate of 28 minutes to be compared with experimental data, indicating a quite good resu lt with our model. Clearly, the results indicate the behaviour of the TCV a s a kind of kink instability as supported by the agreement between theoreti cal and experimental values for the growth rate. Also the filamentation cur rents calculated through the theoretical model agree quite well with the ex perimental observations by satellites.