Kinetic theory of MHD instabilities in a nonuniform plasma

Most of the MHD instabilities originating from the nonuniformity of a plasma excite MHD surface wave. When the excited wave has a frequency _s which corresponds to the local shear Alfvén wave resonance (_s = k v _a (x), where v _a is the Alfvén speed and k is the wave number in the direction of the magnetic field), the surface wave resonantly mode converts to the kinetic Alfvén wave, the Alfvén wave having a perpendicular wavelength comparable to the ion gyroradius and being able to propagate across the magnetic field. We discuss various linear and nonlinear effects of this kinetic Alfvén wave on the plasma including particle acceleration and heating. A specific example for the case of a MHD Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is given.