LOW-FREQUENCY STABILITY OF NONUNIFORM PLASMAS

Journal Article · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1963 · Physics of Fluids (U.S.)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1706723· OSTI ID:4711233

Krall, N A; Rosenbluth, M N

A collisionless plasma in equilibrium with a slightly nonuniform magnetic field is studied to determine its stability against growing low- frequency oscillations whose propagation vector is perpendicular to the magnetic field, The method employs the collisionless Boltzmann equation and Maxwell' s equations to obtain the eigenfrequencies of the oscillations. Previous work on this problem was based on a longitudinnl approximation, i.e., the oscillation was assumed to have electric vector parallel to its direction of propagation. The present work does not make this approximation and finds: (i) a mode which corresponds to the mode found in longitudinal approximation, with the same eigenvalue as given by that approximation; (ii) modes with polarization similar to the longitudinal'' mode which are purely oscillatory; (iii) a purely transverse mode which is unstable. These results are compared with magnetohydrodynamic and other approximations. (auth)

• Research Organization: General Atomic Division, General Dynamics Corp., San Diego, Calif.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• NSA Number: NSA-17-011847
• OSTI ID: 4711233
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids (U.S.), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids (U.S.) Vol. Vol: 6; ISSN PFLDA
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ANISOTROPY
BOLTZMANN EQUATION
CONFIGURATION
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTRODYNAMICS
FREQUENCY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MATHEMATICS
MAXWELL EQUATIONS
MOTION
OSCILLATIONS
PHYSICS
PLASMA
POLARIZATION
STABILITY
THERMODYNAMICS
VECTORS