Nonlinear dynamics of magnetic islands with curvature and pressure

Curvature and finite pressure are known to have a dramatic influence on linear magnetic tearing stability. An analytic theory of the nonlinear resistive growth of magnetic islands in tokamaks that includes the interchange driving term in presented here. A Grad-Shafranov equation to describe the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium of thin islands is derived. The resistive evolution of these islands is then obtained. Interchange effects are found to become progressively less important with increasing island width.