Two important issues for any magnetic fusion configuration are the maximum achievable values of beta and energy confinement time when ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes are excited. It is well known that the excitation of the MHD unstable modes typically can lead to violent restructuring of the plasma profiles. The particle and energy transport associated with these modes normally dominates all other transport mechanisms and can lead to plasma disruptions and a rapid loss of energy. This paper analytically investigates the transport of particle density, energy and magnetic field due to the ideal MHD interchange mode in a closed line system using the quasilinear approximation. The transport equations are derived for a static plasma in a hard core Z-pinch configuration and generalized to an arbitrary axisymmetric toroidal closed poloidal filed line configuration. It is shown that violation of the marginal stability criterion leads to rapid quasilinear transport that drives the pressure profile back to its marginal profile and forces the particle density to be inversely proportional to / dl B ∫ . The applicability of the quasilinear approximation is numerically tested for the hard core Z-pinch magnetic configuration using a full nonlinear code.
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