Kinetic shielding of magnetic islands in 3D equilibria

Kinetic theory is used to describe pressure induced magnetic island formation in three-dimensional configurations. The kinetic responses describe currents that arise at rational surfaces that oppose the island producing 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects in general 3D MHD equilibria. The kinetic response is largest at lowest collisionality suggesting that high-beta stellarators are more resilient to retaining flux surface integrity at high temperatures than predictions from conventional MHD-based theory would imply.