Transverse Kelvin-Helmholtz instability with parallel electron dynamics and Coulomb collisions. Interim report

Technical Report · Wed May 20 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:6226305

Satyanarayana, P; Lee, Y C; Huba, J D

Electron parallel dynamics and Coulomb collisions are included in the analysis of the transverse Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The electrons are treated kinetically while the ions are treated in the fluid limit. It is shown that, in the collisionless case, for an in homogeneous velocity profile v(x)=v/sub tanh/ (x/L the kelvin-Helmholtz instability is stable for k/sub z//k/sub y/ > v/sub 0/)/(L omeg/sub lh/)) k u L(1-k y sq rt in the limit w-ky v/sub 0/ >> k/sub e/ x V/sub e/). Here V/sub o/ is the flow velocity, L is the scale length of the velocity shear layer, k/sub z/ v/sub e/k/sub e/ are the parallel and perpendicular wavenumbers, respectively, omega sub l h = sq. rt.(Omega/sub e/) (Omega/sub i/), and v sube is the compressional energy given to the electrons parallel to B. In the collisional limit, Coulomb collisions are shown to increase the unstable kz domain because they inhibit the electron motion parallel to B. Applications to the high-latitude ionosphere are discussed.

• Research Organization: Science Applications International Corp., McLean, VA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6226305
• Report Number(s): AD-A-181129/8/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BASIC INTERACTIONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
COULOMB SCATTERING
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