Runaway expansion in confined quasi-2D plasmas and vortex fluids

TL;DR

This paper investigates metastable states in confined quasi-2D plasmas and vortex fluids, revealing potential runaway expansion phenomena analogous to astrophysical cluster collapse.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamic framework for analyzing metastable states in Hamiltonian vortex systems and predicts runaway expansion behavior.

Findings

Existence of metastable states with negative specific heat.

Runaway expansion analogous to globular cluster collapse.

Implications for plasma confinement and fluid dynamics.

Abstract

The confined, quasi-two-dimensional guiding center plasma and a system of interacting line vortices in an ideal fluid are examples of Hamiltonian systems with infinite interaction distances. The existence of metastable states with negative specific is investigated by standard entropy maximization of the thermodynamic limit of vortices as they become infinitesimal and form a continuous field. We find metastable states and suggest that these imply a runaway reaction leading to a rapid expansion of a confined plasma or fluid similar to the rapid collapse of globular clusters in astrophysics.