Kinetic effects on ballooning modes in mirror machines

A general procedure for examining the influence of kinetic effects on the stability of magnetohydrodynamic ballooning modes in mirror machines is presented. In particular, the basic kinetic ballooning mode equation for a nonaxisymmetric, arbitrary beta system with anisotropic pressure is derived. Considering a long-thin equilibrium typical of the tandem mirror, it is shown that this governing eigenmode equation reduces to a simple form independent of wave-particle resonant effects.