Equilibrium limits in a dipole configuration

The levitated dipole configuration is an innovative concept for fusion research. One of the main advantages of the dipole configuration is the possibility of stably confining high plasma pressure compared to the magnetic pressure, that is the possibility of achieving high βs (where β is the ratio between plasma pressure and magnetic pressure). The present work investigates the limit on equilibrium β existing in the dipole system. It is found that a limit exists, which is considerably modified by the presence of plasma rotation in the toroidal direction (the long way around the torus). Plasma anisotropy instead does not modify the limit in any appreciable way for the moderate anisotropies considered in this work.