Particle Containment in Mirror Traps in the Presence of Fluctuating Electric Fields

Abstract

Particle motion in magnetohydrodynamically stable magnetic mirrors and in the high-frequency electric fields characteristic of the collective modes of such a system is shown to be restricted by two simple constraints. These constraints, which reduce to the usual magnetic moment and kinetic energy in the absence of fluctuating fields, dictate that while even small-amplitude waves induce large magnetic-moment excursions, the particle-containment properties of the trap are not greatly reduced by the fluctuations.