HYPERRESISTIVITY DUE TO DENSELY PACKED TEARING MODE TURBULENCE

A theory for tearing turbulence in the limit of overlapping islands is developed. A resulting hyperresistivity is found by consistent inclusion of resistivity which differs from that of Strauss [Phys. Fluids 29, 3668 (1986)]. Further, a saturated magnetic fluctuation level is found in a reversed-field pinch (RFP) by balancing anomalous vorticity damping (not hyperresistivity) with current gradient free energy. The role of hyperresistivity is to participate in energy equipartitioning and a cascade of energy to small scales. The effects of magnetic curvature on hyperresistivity are also considered.