The burner operates at a plasma beta of 0.55 — the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure — a value that sits inside the 0.5-0.6 band the GDT mirror experiment has measured. High beta is assumed here only where hardware supports it.
Beta sets how much plasma pressure the field holds, and mirrors achieve high beta naturally. The burner assumes 0.55, explicitly inside GDT's measured 0.5-0.6 range, so the pressure assumption is grounded in a device that has run rather than in an aspiration. High beta also dilates the effective mirror ratio, aiding confinement.
Anchoring beta to a measured range keeps one more parameter out of the speculative column. It is part of a consistent posture: assume demonstrated values, name the one requirement (plug ratio) that is not yet demonstrated.
| Plasma beta | 0.55 |
| Measured anchor | GDT 0.5-0.6 |
| Effect | dilates effective mirror ratio |
| Window | 0.45-0.60 within 10% of reference |
| Posture | demonstrated value assumed |