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.     

Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a viscous compressible plasma of variable density

A study has been made of the problem of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a hydromagnetic plasma of varying density to investigate the influence of the simultaneous presence of the effects of compressibility and viscosity. The solution is shown to be characterized by a variational principle. Based on the variational principle proper solutions have been obtained for a semi-infinite plasma, in which the density has a one-dimensional gradient along the direction of a uniform vertical magnetic field, confined between two planes. Both the viscosity and magnetic field are found to have a stabilizing influence. The effect of compressibility is found to be destabilizing.     

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.     

Instability of a gravitating partially-ionized plasma

The effect of Hall currents and collision with neutrals on the instability of a horizontal layer of a self-gravitating partially-ionized plasma of varying density have been studied. It is assumed that the plasma is permeated by a variable horizontal magnetic field stratified vertically. A variational principle is shown to characterize the problem. By making use of the existence of the variational principle, proper solutions have been obtained for a semi-infinite plasma in which density has a one-dimensional (exponential) vertical stratification. The dispersion relation has been derived and solved numerically. It is found that the collisions with neutrals have a stabilizing influence while Hall currents have a destabilizing influence.     

Effect of magnetic resistivity on the stability of a partially ionized compressible Hall plasma

The dynamic stability of a partially ionized, compressible Hall plasma of finite electrical conductivity has been investigated when the plasma is immersed in a uniform, horizontal magnetic field. Based on the variational principle, which is shown to characterize the problem, the solution has been obtained for a semi-infinite plasma confined between two planes and having an exponential density stratification along the vertical. It is found that the effect of neutral gas friction is stabilizing while magnetic resistivity, Hall currents and compressibility all have destabilizing influence.On leave of absence from Department of Mathematics, University of Jodhpur, Jodhpur, India.     

The rayleigh-taylor instability of a stratified rotating fluid through a porous medium in a two-dimensional magnetic field

The effect of finite conductivity on the Rayleigh-Taylor instability of an incompressible, viscous rotating fluid through a porous medium has been studied in the presence of a two-dimensional horizontal magnetic field. It has been shown that the solution is characterized by a variational principle. By making use of the existence of the variational principle, proper solutions have been obtained for a semi-infinite fluid in which density has a one-dimensional (exponential) vertical stratification. The dispersion relation has been derived and solved numerically. It is found that finite resistivity and porosity have a destabilizing effect on the Rayleigh-Taylor instability while rotation has a stabilizing effect.     

Hydromagnetic stability of a compressible plasma with hall-currents

The hydromagnetic stability of an electrically conducting compressible plasma having variable density in the vertical direction has been investigated taking into account the effects of Hallcurrents. The solution is shown to be characterized by a variational principle. Based on the existence of variational principle, the dispersion relation has been obtained for the case of a plasma having exponentially varying density with special reference to stellar atmosphere. It is found that both compressibility of the medium and Hall-currents destabilize the configuration for the disturbances, for which it was stable otherwise. The Hall-currents even suppress the mode of maximum instability for large magnitudes.     

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.     

Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a plasma with finite ion Larmor radius effects

The stability of an infinitely conducting plasma of variable density has been investigated taking into account the finiteness of the ion Larmor radius. The perturbations propagating along the ambient magnetic field are considered. It is established that, in general,n ² is necessarily real, wheren is the growth rate of disturbance, thus ruling out the possibility of overstability or damped oscillations. The solution is shown to be characterized by a variational principle, which provides the basis for obtaining an approximate solution of the problem. Two density distributions are considered: (i) a continuously stratified plasma layer and (ii) two semi-infinitely extending plasmas of constant densities separated by a horizontal interface. In both cases it has been shown that for the said disturbances the stability criterion remains unaffected by the inclusion of finite Larmor radius effects, though the amplified motion is strongly inhibited due to their inclusion.     

Effects of Hall currents and Coriolis forces on the instability of a self-gravitating plasma of variable density

The hydromagnetic instability of a self-gravitating, incompressible rotating plasma of variable density has been examined in the presence of Hall currents. The system is assumed to be permeated by a variable horizontal magnetic field. The solution of the relevant linearized perturbation equations has been obtained by the normal mode technique through a variational principle which is shown to characterize the problem. Proper solutions have been obtained for a semi-infinite plasma having exponential density stratification along the vertical. The dispersion relation has been derived and solved numerically for different values of the physical parameters involved. It is found that Hall currents and Coriolis forces have both destabilizing influence as the growth rate of the unstable modes is found to increase with the increase of both Hall currents and Coriolis forces.     

Time-fractional Burgers equation for dust acoustic waves in a two different temperatures dusty plasma

The reductive perturbation method has been used to derive the Burgers equation for dust acoustic shock waves in unmagnetized plasma having electrons, singly charged ions, hot and cold dust species with Boltzmann distributions for electrons and ions in the presence of the cold (hot) dust viscosity coefficients. The time-fractional Burgers equation is formulated using Euler-Lagrange variational technique and is solved using the variational-iteration method. The effect of time fractional parameter on the behavior of the shock waves in the dusty plasma has been investigated.     

Effects of gyroviscosity and hall currents on the stability of a stratified rotating self-gravitating plasma

Instability in a horizontal layer of a stratified rotating self-gravitating plasma is studied to include simultaneously the effects of Hall currents and the finiteness of the ion Larmor radius. Proper solutions have been obtained through the variational methods for a semi-infinite plasma in which the density has an exponential gradient along the vertical. The dispersion relation obtained has been solved numerically and it is found that the growth rate of the unstable perturbations decreases with both coriolis forces and gyroviscous effects. The influence of the effects of gyroviscosity as well as of Coriolis forces is consequently stabilizing. Hall currents are found to have a destabilizing influence as the growth rate is found to increase with this effect.     

Thermal stability of a corona heated by fast mode waves

It has been proposed that dissipation of hydromagnetic waves is an important heat source for the solar corona. We consider damping by collisionless processes and by electron thermal conduction and ion viscosity, and calculate the wave energy density such that heating balances the energy radiated by the plasma. We then analyze the thermal stability of the wave heated medium. The fastest growing instabilities are condensations perpendicular to the fieldlines. The instability may be important for producing coronal fine structure, and in loops and streamers.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Effect of <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>-nonextensive distribution of electrons on electron acoustic solitons

Ion acoustic shock waves (IASWs) are studied in a plasma consisting of electrons, positrons and ions. Boltzmann distributed positrons and superthermal electrons are considered in the plasma. The dissipation is taken into account the kinematic viscosity among the plasma constituents. The Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers (KdV–Burgers) equation is derived by reductive perturbation method. Shock waves are solutions of KdV–Burgers equation. It is observed that an increasing positron concentration decreases the amplitude of the waves. Furthermore, in the existence of the kinematic viscosity among the plasma, the shock wave structure appears. The effects of ion kinematic viscosity (η ₀) and the superthermal parameter (k) on the ion acoustic waves are found.     

Magneto-gravitational instability of a fluid through porous medium including finite ion Larmor radius

The magneto-gravitational instability of an infinite, homogenous, and infinitely conducting plasma flowing through a porous medium is studied. The finite ion Larmor radius (FLR) effects and viscosity are also incorporated in the analysis. The prevalent magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and acting in the vertical direction. A general dispersion relation has been obtained from the relevant linearized perturbation equations of the problem. The wave propagation parallel and perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field have been discussed. It is found that the condition of the instability is determined by the Jeans criterion for a self-gravitating, infinitely conducting, magnetized fluid through a porous medium. Furthermore, for transverse perturbation FLR is found to have stabilizing influence when the medium is considered inviscid.     

Dust ion-acoustic shock waves in nonextensive dusty plasma

A parametric survey on the propagation characteristics of the dust ion-acoustic (DIA) shock waves showing the effect of nonextesivity with nonextensive electrons in a dissipative dusty plasma system has been carried out using the reductive perturbation technique. We have considered continuity and momentum equations for inertial ions, q-distributed nonextensive electrons, and stationary charged dust grains, to derive the Burgers equation. It has been found that the basic features of DIA shock waves are significantly modified by the effects of electron nonextensivity and ion kinematic viscosity. Depending on the degree of nonextensivity of electrons, the dust ion-acoustic shock structures exhibit compression and rarefaction. The implications of our results would be useful to understand some astrophysical and cosmological scenarios like stellar polytropes, hadronic matter and quark-gluon plasma, protoneutron stars, dark-matter halos, etc., where effects of nonextensivity can play the significant roles.     

Mulit-ion plasmas in astrophysics

An isothermal hydrodynamic model of the motions of a multi-ion plasma in a gravitational field is developed and the properties of the flow are discussed for the case of major astrophysical interest in which the gas undergoes a subsonic-supersonic transition. It is shown that the existence of critical points thorough which the plasma has to pass will determine a large number of the plasma parameters, especially the temperature of the minor ions. The equation of motion of a two ion gas (hydrogen-helium) are solved numerically and yield the interesting result that the bulk velocity of the plasma constituents are not equal at 1 AU.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

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.     

Ion-acoustic shock waves in a plasma with weakly relativistic warm ions, thermal positrons and a background electron nonextensivity

A weakly nonlinear analysis is carried out to derive a Korteweg–de Vries-Burgers-like equation for small, but finite amplitude, ion-acoustic waves in a dissipative plasma consisting of weakly relativistic ions, thermal positrons and nonextensive electrons. The travelling wave solution has been acquired by employing the tangent hyperbolic method. Our results show that in a such plasma, ion-acoustic shock waves, the strength and steepness of which are significantly modified by relativistic, nonextensive and dissipative effects, may exist. Interestingly, we found that because of ion kinematic viscosity, an initial solitonic profile develops into a shock wave. This later evolves towards a monotonic profile (dissipation-dominant case) as the electrons deviate from their Maxwellian equilibrium. Our investigation may help to understand the dissipative structures that may occur in high-energy astrophysical plasmas.     

Variational principle for stars with a phase transition

The variational principle for stars with a phase transition has been investigated. The term outside the integral in the expression for the second variation of the total energy of a star is shown to be obtained by passage to the limit from the integration over the region of mixed states in the star. The form of the trial functions ensuring this passage has been found. All of the results have been generalized to the case where general relativity is applicable. The known criteria for the dynamical stability of a star when a new phase appears at its center are shown to follow automatically from the variational principle. Numerical calculations of hydrostatically equilibrium models for hybrid stars with a phase transition have been performed. The form of the trial functions for the second variation of the total energy of a star that describes almost exactly the stability boundaries of such stellar models is proposed.