Plasma Seminar: Joshua Burby: Symmetries of magnetic fields: what are they?

Abstract: I will introduce various notions of symmetry for magnetic fields that

play an important role in magnetic confinement theory. Crucial to

understanding the different notions of symmetry is the more general

notion of differential form. I will motivate and define differential forms

using elementary observations from linear algebra. The presentation culminates with a precise, coordinate-independent definition of quasisymmetry – one of the main routes to achieving remarkable confinement properties characteristic of today’s stellarator devices.