Kinetic shielding of magnetic islands in 3-D equilibria

Kinetic theory is used to describe pressure induced magnetic island formation in three-dimensional configurations. The kinetic responses describes currents that arise at rational surfaces that oppose the island producing magnetohydrodynamic (3-D) effects in general 3-D MHD equilibria. The kinetic response is largest at lowest collisionality suggesting that high-β stellarators are more resilient to retaining flux surface integrity at high-temperature than predictions from conventional MHD based theory would imply. Pacs. nos. 52.55.Hc, 52.55.Dy, 52.55.Tn, 52.35.Py