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Nonlinear stability of Halley cometosheath with transverse plasma motion

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Abstract

Weakly nonlinear MHD stability of the Halley cometosheath determined by the balance between the outward ion-neutral drag force and the inward Lorentz force is investigated including the transverse plasma motion as observed in the flanks with the help of the method of multiple scales. The eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions are obtained for the linear problem and the time evolution of the amplitude is obtained using the solvability condition for the solution of the second order problem. The diamagnetic cavity boundary and the adjacent layer of about 100 km thickness is found unstable for the travelling waves of certain wave numbers. Halley ionopause has been observed to have strong ripples with a wavelength of several hundred kilometers. It is found that nonlinear effects have stabilizing effect.

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Author notes

  1. Krishna M. Srivastava

    Present address: MPI für Extraterrestrische Physik, Rudower Chaussee 5, 12489, Berlin, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Delhi University, Delhi, India

    Krishna M. Srivastava

  2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Bruce T. Tsurutani

Authors
  1. Krishna M. Srivastava
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  2. Bruce T. Tsurutani
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Srivastava, K.M., Tsurutani, B.T. Nonlinear stability of Halley cometosheath with transverse plasma motion. Astrophys Space Sci 222, 113–125 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00627087

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00627087

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