Finite Larmor radius effects on the stability of a stratified plasma

The hydromagnetic stability of a cosmical plasma interacting with neutral gas has been studied to include the effects of ion viscosity and the finiteness of the ion Larmor radius. It is first shown that the system is characterized by a variational principle. The explicit solution has then been obtained, by making use of the existence of the variational principle, for a semi-infinite plasma in which the density is stratified, exponentially, along the vertical. It is found that FLR, ion viscosity as well as neutral gas friction have all a stabilizing influence.     

Finite Larmor radius and Hall effects on thermosolutal instability of a plasma

The thermosolutal instability of a plasma with finite Larmor radius and Hall effects is studied. When the instability sets in as stationary convection, finite Larmor radius effects are always stabilizing forx(=k ² d ²/² greater than two and forx less than two, they have a stabilizing or destabilizing influence depending on the Larmor radius parameterN in the presence of Hall currents. On the other hand the Hall currents have both stabilizing and destabilizing effects on the thermosolutal instability forx less than two and forx greater than two depending on the Hall parameterM. The stable solute gradient is found to have a stabilizing effect on stationary convection. The case of overstability is also considered wherein the sufficient conditions for the non-existence of overstability are derived.     

Larmor radius effects on the instability of a stratified partially-ionized plasma in the presence of Hall currents and magnetic resistivity

Instability of a stratified layer of a partially-ionized plasma has been investigated in the simultaneous presence of the effects of Hall currents, magnetic resistivity, finite Larmor radius (FLR), and viscosity. The ambient magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and acting along the vertical direction. The solution is shown to be characterized by a variational principle, based on it the solution has been obtained for a plasma in which the density is stratified exponentially along the vertical. It is found that the viscosity, friction with neutrals, and FLR have all stabilizing influence on the growth rate of the unstable mode of disturbance. Magnetic resistivity and Hall currents are, however, found to have a destabilizing influence.     

The stability of inner cometo-sheath with large Larmor radius effects

An investigation of the linear stability of the cometary inner sheath, the boundary layer surrounding the ionopause which separates the outflowing unmagnetized plasma from an inflowing magnetized plasma, has been carried out by taking into account the large Larmor radius effects. The structure of the boundary layer is determined by the balance between an outward ion-neutral collisional drag force and an inward magnetic stress. The eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions are obtained numerically by treating the cometary ionosphere as a layer of finite thickness, bounded by the contact surface, i.e., the diamagnetic cavity boundary. Certain limiting cases of the wave equations are also discussed. In general, the cometary ionosphere is structurally linearly unstable and the effects of recombination, photoionization, plasma pressure, though stabilizing are unable to quench the instability completely. The large Larmor radius also has a destabilizing effect on the system. The instability of the cometosheath is further proved by the _c/_i assuming a value greater than 30 that is sufficient for the convection of perturbations down into the cavity surface and this is in agreement with the observations of ripples in the ionopause.     

Finite Larmor radius effects on the Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a rotating plasma of variable density

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a rotating plasma of variable density has been investigated to include simultaneously the effects of viscosity and the finiteness of the ion Larmor radius. It is shown that, for a plasma in which the density is stratified along the vertical, the solution is characterized by a variational principle. Making use of this, proper solutions have been otained for a semiinfinite plasma in which the density varies exponentially. The dispersion relation has been solved numerically and it is found that the influence of the effects of both FLR and viscosity is stabilizing. The Coriolis forces are found to have a dual role, stabilizing for small wave numbers and destabilizing for large wave numbers. The range of the small wave numbers, over which the Coriolis forces have a stabilizing influence, is found to increase with Coriolis forces.     

Effect of rotation and finite Larmor radius on magneto-gravitational instability of Hall plasma in the presence of suspended particles

The effect of rotation on the self-gravitational instability of an infinite homogeneous magnetized Hall plasma is considered with the inclusion of finite Larmor radius corrections and the effect of suspended particles. A general dispersion relation is obtained from the linearized set of equations. The particular cases of the effect of rotation along and perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field are considered. The effects of Hall current, finite Larmor radius, and suspended particles on the waves propagated parallel and perpendicular to the uniform magnetic field are investigated along with the uniform rotation of the medium. It is found that in the presence of suspended particles, magnetic field, Hall current, rotation and finite Larmor radius, the Jeans criterion determines the condition of gravitational instability of a gas-particle medium.     

Larmor radius effects on the instability of a rotating layer of a self-gravitating plasma

The instability of a stratified layer of a self-gravitating plasma has been studied to include jointly the effects of viscosity, Coriolis forces and the finite Larmor radius (FLR). For a plasma permeated by a uniform horizontal magnetic field, the stability analysis has been carried out for a transverse mode of wave propagation. The solution has been obtained through variational methods for the case when the direction of axis of rotation is along the magnetic field. The analysis for the case when the direction of rotation is transverse to the magnetic field has also been considered and the solutions for this case have been obtained through integral approach. The dispersion relations have been derived in both the cases and solved numerically. It is found that both the viscous and FLR effects have a stabilizing influence on the growth rate of the unstable mode of disturbance. Coriolis forces are found to have stabilizing influence for small wave numbers and destabilizing for large wave numbers.     

Infrared spectra of carbonaceous chondrites and the composition of intertellar grains

Gravitational instability of an infinitely conducting hydromagnetic composite rotating plasma is considered to include simultaneously the finite Larmor radius effects and the frictional effects with neutrals. It is found that Jeans' criterion of instability holds good in the presence of rotation, finite Larmor radius and collisions with neutrals. The particular cases of the above effects on the waves propagated along and perpendicular to the magnetic field have been discussed. The effect of rotation is to decrease the Larmor radius by an amount depending upon the wave number of perturbation.     

Finite larmor radius and hall effects on thermosolutal instability of a rotating plasma

Thermosolutal instability of a rotating plasma with finite Larmor radius and Hall effects is studied. When the instability sets in as stationary convection, the Hall currents and the stable solute gradient are found to have destabilizing and stabilizing effects, respectively. For the case of no rotation, finite Larmor radius effects are always stabilizing forx greater than two and forx less than its critical valueN _cr. In the limit of vanishing Hall current, the stabilizing effect of Coriolis force is observed. The question of onset of instability as overstability is also discussed.     

The Rayleigh Taylor instability of superposed partially-ionized plasmas

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability of the plane interface separating two superposed, partiallyionized, viscous plasmas of different densities has been studied to include the effects of finite Larmor radius. The solution of the relevant linearized perturbation equations has been developed by the Normal mode technique, taking the prevalent magnetic field to be uniform and horizontal. The potentially unstable case of a dense fluid superimposed on a lighter one has been considered. It is found that neutral gas friction, viscosity as well as finite Larmor radius all have stabilizing influence.On leave of absence from Department of Mathematics, University of Jodhpur, India.     

Finite Larmor radius effect on thermal instability of a compressible rotating plasma

Thermal instability of a compressible rotating plasma in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field is studied to include the effects of finiteness of the ion-Larmor radius. When the instability sets in as stationary convection, the compressibility is found to have stabilizing effect. It is found that finite Larmor radius effects are always stabilizing forx greater than two and forx less than two they have a destabilizing influence in the presence of rotation. The stabilizing effect of coriolis force is observed and for the case of no rotation, finite Larmor radius effects are always stabilizing. The sufficient conditions for the nonexistence of overstability are investigated.     

Exact solution to radiation-filled Brans-Dicke closed space cosmology

Under the assumption of a power law (k·R ⁿ=C,C=const.) between the gravitational constantk and the radius of curvatureR of the Universe and forP=1/3 the exact solution is sought for the cosmological equations of Brans and Dicke. The solution turns out to be valid for closed space and the parameter of the scalar-tensor theory is necessarily negative. The radius of curvature increases linearly with respect to the age of the Universe while the gravitational constant grows with the square of the radius of curvature. It has been shown (Lessner, 1974) that in this case (KR ²) the spatial component of the field equations is independent of the remaining equations. However, our solution satisfies this independent equation. This solution for the radiation-dominated era corresponds to the solution for the matter-dominated era found by Dehnen and one of the authors (Dehnen and Obregón, 1971). Our solution, as is the solution previously obtained for the matter-dominated era, is in contradiction to Dirac's hypothesis in which the gravitational constant should decrease with time in an expanding Universe.     

Investigation of Shock Wave Dynamics in An Inhomogeneous Solar Atmosphere

The shock front (SF) propagation in the solar atmosphere with a power-law decrease of density is studied in the Kompaneets approximation. It is shown that the SF part moving from the Sun in the radial direction speeds up at the exponent n > 3 and slows down at n < 3. When passing from the lower corona with n = 6 to the solar wind with n = 2, the acceleration in the front part changes into deceleration. This result allows us to understand the kinematics of the SF obtained from the observational data on type II bursts at low frequencies. Besides, in the region of solar wind, new analytical solutions of the Kompaneets equation (KE) for SF have been obtained. One of them describes SF as an expanding sphere with the center moving from the Sun (plain case). Another solution has been obtained for the case of the inverse near-square law density depending on radius with the singularity at a given levelR.     

Experiment on Collisionless Plasma Interaction with Applications to Supernova Remnant Physics

Results from a scaled, collision-free, laser-plasma experiment designed to address aspects of collisionless plasma interaction in a high-plasma β supernova remnant (SNR) are discussed. Ideal magneto-hydrodynamic scaling indicates that the experimental plasma matches the SNR plasma at 500 ps. Experimental data show that the magnetic field can alter the plasma density profile when two similar plasmas interact in a colliding geometry. These results are not explained by magnetic-field pressure; they do, however, suggest magnetic field penetration that localizes the plasma particles to the Larmor radius, which appears smaller than the size of the experiment and the particle mean-free paths and may thus increase the effective collisionality of the interacting plasma system.     

Electrostatic waves with frequencies exceeding the gyrofrequency in the magnetosphere

Electrostatic waves with > _c in a plasma with temperature anisotropy and loss-cone are considered. An analytical asymptotic analysis is made for waves propagating nearly perpendicular to the magnetic field and having wave-length small compared with the Larmor radius. Numerical computations are done for carried out waves with arbitrary direction of propagation. The frequency range of instability, growth damping rates, and dispersion curves have been found. The results can be used for the interpretation of magnetospheric experiments.     

Thermal-convective instability of a composite plasma in a stellar atmosphere with finite Larmor radius

Thermal-convective instability of a hydromagnetic-composite plasma in a stellar atmosphere has been studied in the presence of finite Larmor radius. It is found that the criterion for monotonic instability holds good in the presence of finite Larmor radius.     

Formation of Intensive Magnetic Flux Tubes in a Converging Flow of Partially Ionized Solar Photospheric Plasma

Theoretical model, explaining a phenomenon of formation of Intensive Magnetic Flux Tube (IMFT) in a converging flow of partially ionized solar photospheric plasma is considered. Special attention is paid to the fact of weak ionization (n/n _n ∼ 10^-4) of plasma in the photosphere. The cases of 2D magnetic slab and cylindric magnetic tube are considered. It was shown that in a converging flow of photospheric plasma thin magnetic tubes, or slabs with the characteristic scale L ₀ ∼ (1 ÷ 5) ċ 10⁷ cm and magnetic field 1000 ÷ 2000 G can be generated. By this 2D magnetic slabs could be unstable with respect to an exchange instability and appear as an intermediate step during IMFT formation on the boundary of two supergranulation cells. Formation of compact strong magnetic field structures, and their energy balance are discussed. Stationary Joule energy dissipation taking place on the photospheric levels in the models of magnetic slab or IMFT under consideration increases towards the periphery of these objects and can exceed radiation looses. This can cause the occurrence of magnetic tubes with hot external envelopes, and modification of plasma temperature and density distribution, with respect to ones in a quiet atmosphere. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Gravitational instability of a thermally-conducting plasma flowing through a porous medium in the presence of suspended particles

Magnetogravitational instability of a thermally-conducting, rotating plasma flowing through a porous medium with finite conductivity and finite Larmor radius in the presence of suspended particles has been investigated. The wave propagation has been considered for both parallel and perpendicular axes of rotation. Magnetic field is being taken in the vertical direction. A general dispersion relation has been derived through relevant linearized perturbation equations. It has been observed that the condition of instability is determined by the Jeans's criterion in its modifed form. Thermal conductivity replaces the adiabatic velocity of sound by the isothermal one. Rotation decreases the Larmor radius. Porosity decreases the Alfvén velocity. In case of a viscous medium the effects of FLR, rotation, and suspended particles are not observed in the Jeans's condition, for transverse propagation for rotational axis parallel to the magnetic field. The effects of rotation and FLR are decreased by the porosity and the suspended particles. Finite conductivity removes the Alfvén velocity from Jeans's condition.     

Neutralization and stabilization of particle streams in the corona and type III radio bursts

The processes by which streams of charged particles become charge and current neutralized in the corona are investigated. It is shown that a large amplitude plasma wave, which is related to precursor phenomenon in type III bursts and possibly plasma radiation from type IV bursts, will be excited at the head of the stream. The energy extracted from the stream to produce this plasma wave is computed and used to set conservative upper limits on the densities of possible excitors for type III bursts. For electron streams the density n _s < 10^–5 n _e, where n _e is the density of the background plasma. For proton streams n _s < 1.8 × 10^–2 n _e. The energy extracted from the stream is also used to set upper limits on the lifetimes of relativistic electrons stored in the corona and it is concluded that for n _e > 10² cm^–3 this loss must be taken into account. Since electron streams cannot produce their own stabilizing ionacoustic waves because they would violate the condition n _s < 10^–5 n _e, other mechanisms for producing ion-acoustic waves in the corona are examined. Another stabilization mechanism due to velocity inhomogeneity is investigated.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

The effect of large Larmor radius on nonlinear Alfvén waves

The effect of large Larmor radius on the nonlinear behaviour of Alfvén waves propagating parallel to a uniform magnetic field in a compressible fluid is investigated with the aid of LLR-MHD equations. It is shown that asymptotic evolution of these waves is governed by the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The dispersion is provided by the large Larmor radius effect in the magnetic field equation. It is suggested that these calculations can have a bearing on the investigation of the structure of MHD waves in both laboratory and space plasmas, e.g., imploding pinches, laser-blow-off plasma experiment, recent barium releases in the magnetosphere, plasma flow near small planetary bodies such as comets and plasma dynamic near collisionless shock fronts.