EFFECT OF PRESSURE ON MODE TRANSITION POINT OF REVERSED FIELD PINCH PLASMA IN PARTIALLY RELAXED STATES

The effect of the pressure on the mode transition point of the relaxed state from the cylindrical state to the mixed helical one is investigated, by using the associated eigenvalue problem derived from the reminimization of the energy integral for the nonideal MHD plasma. The eigenvalue which gives the mode transition point is solved to the 1st order approximation by the perturbation method. Numerical results by the eigenvalue show that the pressure effect leads to fairly large shifts of the mode transition points and makes them closer to the experimental operating region reported so far. Comparison between the theoretical and the experimental data shows that the experimental data tend to evolve along the line of constant beta-ax.