Pressure-driven reconnection and quasi periodical oscillations in plasmas

This paper presents a model for an ohmically heated plasma in which a feedback exists between thermal conduction and transport, on one side, and the magneto-hydro-dynamical stability of the system, on the other side. In presence of a reconnection threshold for the magnetic field, a variety of periodical or quasi periodical oscillations for the physical quantities describing the system are evidenced. The model is employed to interpret the observed quasi periodical oscillations of electron temperature and perturbed magnetic field around the so called "Single Helical" state in the reversed field pinch, but its relevance for other periodical phenomena observed in magnetic confinement systems, especially in tokamaks, is suggested.