Magnetic stabilization of transverse plasma instabilities

Abstract

Waves, propagating transverse to the direction of the streaming of a plasma in the presence of a uniform external magnetic field, are unstable if the streaming exceeds a certain minimum value. The magnetic field reduces the growth rate of this instability, and also increases the value of the minimum streaming velocity, above which the system is unstable. The thermal motions in the plasma, how¬ever, tend to stabilize the system if the magnetic field is weak (i.e.Ω2 /k2vt2< 1,Ω being the electron cyclotron frequency, k the characteristic wave-number, and vt the thermal velocity); but, in case of strong magnetic field (i.e. k2vt2/ Ω2)<1), they increase the growth rate, provided c2k2/wp2<1/3(wp being the electron plasma frequency).