title: Theory for explosive ideal magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in plasmas.
abstract: Flux tubes confined in tokamaks are observed to erupt explosively in some plasma disruptions and edge localized modes. Similar eruptions occur in astrophysical plasmas, for example, in solar flares and magnetospheric substorms. A single unifying nonlinear evolution equation describing such behavior in both astrophysical and tokamak plasmas is derived. This theory predicts that flux tubes rise explosively, narrow, and twist to pass through overlying magnetic field lines without reconnection.
authors.affiliation: EURATOM/UKAEA Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 3DB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Cowley