Numerical and Theoretical Investigations of Non-Neutral and Positron-Electron Plasma Dynamics

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The confinement of non-neutral plasmas by magnetic surfaces, such as those of a tokamak or a stellarator, is a new area of plasma research. This research focuses on the development of the theory of confinement by magnetic surfaces of plasmas that range from single component to quasi-neutral, which is in part motivated by the confinement of electron-positron plasmas. The strong electrostatic potential that arises when plasmas on magnetic surfaces are far from charge neutrality provides excellent confinement for the minority species. This makes magnetic surfaces (a stellarator) particularly suited for confining positron-electron plasmas. Positron-electron plasmas, also known as pair plasmas, are uniquely different from electron-ion plasmas due to the perfect mass symmetry and perfect charge antisymmetry. Partly neutralized and pair plasmas are relevant to fusion plasma physics. State of the art fusion plasma simulation codes, such as GS2, can be benchmarked against a pair-plasma experiment. The codes should be able to accurately predict the physics of pair plasmas in a magnetic surface configuration, since the mass symmetry actually simplifies the problem.