Abstract
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.
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Ali, A., Bhatia, P.K. Instability of a gravitating partially-ionized plasma. Astrophys Space Sci 191, 89–100 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00644198
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00644198