Interesting. Their proposed stelaris reactor only has four twists in it though if I interpret the Plasma’s shape as shown in their paper correctly.
It could be due to the generators much larger size but that’s just a hobbyist’s guesswork. Here a comparison of the height of one coil to other reactors and a human:
I’m not sure yet how much they are exaggerating with their capabilities and the reactors feasibility since I’m not a physicists and my only trust towards them stems from them working with the Max plank institute. But I hope it’s solid work. I’m looking forward to the reactions from other physicists to the plan though.
Oh that’s a good explanation for four twists. It sounds pretty likely that this was factored into the design.