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Stability of a stratified partially ionized plasma in a vertical magnetic field
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2009
Abstract
The dynamic stability of a stratified layer of partially ionized compressible plasma is discussed to investigate the effects of finite electrical conductivity and ion viscosity. The prevailing magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and vertical. For a semi-infinite plasma having a one-dimensional exponential density gradient along the vertical, the dispersion relation has been obtained by variational methods. It is found that the ion viscosity and ion–neutral collisions, whether included jointly or separately, do not change the stability criterion of the perfectly conducting system. Their inclusion, however, has a tendency to reduce the growth rate of the unstable perturbations showing that they have a stabilizing influence. On the other hand the inclusion of the effects of finite resistivity and compressibility of the medium is found to be destabilizing as the wavenumber range over which the plasma would otherwise be stable, becomes unstable.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978
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