Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-collisionless-plasma-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2025/3/b/solution

For a static equilibrium, linearization of magnetic induction gives
The rotating local basis must be differentiated. In particular, and . Their contributions proportional to cancel in the radial component, yielding
Writing , the magnitude component is
where when .
Set and . The transverse component of the linear kinetic magnetohydrodynamic momentum equation is
Since , perpendicular magnetic pressure enforces the leading pressure-balanced plasma perturbation condition , giving
In the radial component, the curvature part of the perturbed magnetic force is : one contribution comes from and one from . The perturbed pressure anisotropy contributes . After the leading total-pressure constraint has removed , the radial equation is
Substituting gives
Although is small at low plasma beta, its contribution to the force balance is of the same order as and must be kept.

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