Study of microinstabilities in toroidal plasmas with negative magnetic shear

The microinstabilities driven by a parallel velocity shear, and a temperature gradient of ions are studied in toroidal plasmas with negative magnetic shear. Both the fluid and the gyrokinetic formulations are investigated. It is found that for a broad range of parameters, the linear growth rates of the modes are lower and the threshold temperature gradient ηicr is higher for plasmas with negative magnetic shear compared to plasmas with positive magnetic shear of equal magnitude. The reduction in the growth rate (with negative shear), although not insignificant, does not seem to be enough to account for the dramatic improvement in the confinement observed experimentally. Other possible physical mechanisms for the improved confinement are discussed.