Linear stability of tearing modes

Abstract

This paper examines the stability of tearing modes in a sheared slab when the width of the tearing layer is much smaller than the ion Larmor radius. The ion response is nonlocal, and the quasineutrality retains its full integral form. An expansion procedure is introduced to solve the quasineutrality equation in powers of the width of the tearing layer over the ion Larmor radius. The expansion procedure is applied to the collisionless and semicollisional tearing modes. It is found that first‐order terms in the expansion are strongly stabilizing. The physics of the mode and of the stabilization are discussed. Tearing modes are observed in experiments even though the slab theory predicts stability. It is proposed that these modes grow from an equilibrium with islands at the rational surfaces. If the equilibrium islands are wider than the ion Larmor radius, the mode is unstable when Δ’ is positive.