Rayleigh--Taylor instability of a plasma--vacuum boundary in the limit of a large Larmor radius

Journal Article · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Physics of Fluids B; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.859893· OSTI ID:6144618

Velikovich, A L ^[1]

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1. All-Union Research Institute of Metrological Service, Andreevskaya nab. 2, Moscow 117965, USSR (SU)

The Rayleigh--Taylor instability of a plasma--vacuum boundary is studied with the aid of an ideal one-fluid Hall model corresponding to the limit of a large ion Larmor radius. The global Rayleigh--Taylor instability mode, whose growth rate is {Gamma}({ital k})=({ital gk}){sup 1/2}, still exists in this case, but is not necessarily the dominating one. The exact upper bound for the growth rates of all the other instability modes is found in the low-beta limit. For large wave numbers the growth rate of the fastest instability mode is estimated as {Gamma}{sub max}({ital k})={ital gk}/{Omega}{sub {ital i}}.

• OSTI ID: 6144618
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (USA), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (USA) Vol. 3:2; ISSN 0899-8221; ISSN PFBPE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640410* -- Fluid Physics-- General Fluid Dynamics
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
BOUNDARY LAYERS
EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS OF STATE
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
INSTABILITY
INSTABILITY GROWTH RATES
LARMOR RADIUS
LAYERS
LOW-BETA PLASMA
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA PRESSURE
RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
VACUUM SYSTEMS