Start-up of the reversed-field pinch in an adiabatic manner

Purely adiabatic formation of a reversed-field pinch is examined as a possible means of access to diffuse, stable reversed-field equilibria. Ideal MHD equations describing adiabatic reversed-field pinch formation are solved to obtain the electric fields and plasma density at the wall characteristic of the initial state and the states through which the system must pass adiabatically. It is shown that if the states through which the plasma evolves adiabatically to a final Bessel-function model state decay resistively, the magnetic energy lost is small. The effects of resistive MHD activity analogous to that observed in tokamaks on reversed-field pinch start-up are also considered.