Work

All field strengths are possible locally in Boozer coordinates

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: The magnetic field strength is a central design object in the theory of magnetic confinement of plasma. Desirable confinement properties such as quasi-symmetry and omnigenity are characterized by special forms of the field strength when it is given in the particular coordinate system called ``Boozer coordinates." We ask a basic realizability question: which functions of Boozer coordinates can arise as the magnitude of a magnetic field that is written in Boozer coordinates? Using exterior differential systems and the Cartan-Kähler theorem, we show that every positive analytic function is locally realizable. Thus there is no local analytic obstruction to prescribing the field strength in Boozer coordinates; though further restrictions might arise from global geometric or additional physical constraints.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2609.09517

Authors: Klotz, Taylor J., Duignan, Nathan, Burby, Joshua W., Meiss, James D.

Institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado System, The University of Sydney, The University of Texas at Austin

Language: English

Topic: Magnetic confinement fusion research

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: U.S. Department of Energy

Award: G1542843473

OpenAlex ID: W7212137462

Cites: 22

Cited by:

Related to: 10