Finite Larmor radius effects on the stability of a stratified plasma

1973 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. K. Bhatia
1969 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 831-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. L. Kalra

The effect of finite ion Larmor radius on the gravitational instability of two superposed fluids in uniform rotation is investigated for interchange perturbations, using the macroscopic equations of motion, where the finite ion Larmor radius effect is incorporated through off-diagonal terms in the pressure tensor. It is found that the region of stable wavelengths is enhanced due to the simultaneous presence of finite Larmor radius and a uniform rotation. A similar conclusion is also arrived at for the situation when a vortex sheet is present between the two superposed fluids.


1971 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-85
Author(s):  
A. D. Lunn

A closed set of guiding centre equations, derived for a rotating plasma in a static magnetic field, is applied to the problem of the stability of a plasma in a sheared field. The rotation is found to have a stabilizing effect in the absence of resistivity.A pair of coupled, linear differential equations is derived for the rotating plasma in a weakly sheared field. Dispersion relations are obtained by phase integral methods and, in the absence of finite Larmor radius effects and rotation, instability growth rates proportional to η½13 are found which become proportional to when either is included. The inclusion of both finite Larmor radius and rotation gives growing instabilities proportional to η which are stabilized by the rotation when the finite Larmor radius terms predominate.


1976 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishna M. Srivastava ◽  
F. Waelbroeck

We have investigated the stability of the screw pinch with the help of the double adiabatic (CGL) equations including the finite Larmor radius effects through the anisotropic pressure tensor. The calculations are approximate, with FLR treated as a first-order correction to the ideal plasma equations. The dispersion relation has been solved for various values of R2 = p∥/p⊥ and α for the rale and imaginary part of the frequency (ω = ωR ± iωI) in three particular cases: (a) μ = 0, the θ-pinch, (b) μ = ∞, the Z-pinch, (c) μ = -α/m, field distubances parallel to the equilibrium field. Here μ is the pitch of the magnetic field in the pressureless plasma surrounding the main column, α is the wave number, m is the azimuthal number, p∥ and p⊥ are plasma pressures along and perpendicular to the magnetic field.


2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Xu ◽  
Matthew W. Kunz

The stability of a collisionless, magnetised plasma to local convective disturbances is examined, with a focus on kinetic and finite-Larmor-radius effects. Specific application is made to the outskirts of galaxy clusters, which contain hot and tenuous plasma whose temperature increases in the direction of gravity. At long wavelengths (the ‘drift-kinetic’ limit), we obtain the kinetic version of the magnetothermal instability (MTI) and its Alfvénic counterpart (Alfvénic MTI), which were previously discovered and analysed using a magnetofluid (i.e. Braginskii) description. At sub-ion-Larmor scales, we discover an overstability driven by the electron-temperature gradient of kinetic-Alfvén drift waves – the electron MTI (eMTI) – whose growth rate is even larger than the standard MTI. At intermediate scales, we find that ion finite-Larmor-radius effects tend to stabilise the plasma. We discuss the physical interpretation of these instabilities in detail, and compare them both with previous work on magnetised convection in a collisional plasma and with temperature-gradient-driven drift-wave instabilities well known to the magnetic-confinement-fusion community. The implications of having both fluid and kinetic scales simultaneously driven unstable by the same temperature gradient are briefly discussed.


1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Goedert ◽  
J. P. Mondt

From hybrid-kinetic theory an eigenvalue equation for electromagnetic perturbations with ω ≈ ωci in collisionless theta-pinches with anisotropic ion energy was recently derived. This equation is presently reduced to two ordinary second-order linear differential equations by an expansion in the thermal ion Larmor radius. The leading-order correction terms contain Cherenkov resonances absent in the homogeneous case, which are reached for speeds ≈ υ| β|-½ and wave-numbers typical for unstable modes in the homogeneous case, indicating the importance of Cherenkov resonance on the stability of modes driven by ion energy anisotropy. These equations are supplemented by appropriate boundary conditions for the case when the plasma is surrounded by a cylindrical, perfectly conducting wall. For weak inhomogeneities a local dispersion equation is obtained. The physical mechanism underlying the influence of Cherenkov resonance parallel to the confining magnetic field as a FLR effect on stability behaviour is illustrated.


1978 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. I. Meerson ◽  
A. B. Mikhallovskii ◽  
O. A. Pokhotelov

Resonant excitation of Alfvén waves by fast particles in a finite pressure plasma in a non-uniform magnetic field is studied. Plasma compressibility in the wave field is determined both by the curvature of the magnetic lines of force and finite Larmor radius of fast particles. A general expression for the instability growth rate is obtained and analyzed; the applicability of the results obtained in the previous paper has also been studied. The finite pressure stabilization of the trapped particles instability has been found. The bounce-resonance effects are analyzed.


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