Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a plasma with finite ion Larmor radius effects

Abstract

The stability of an infinitely conducting plasma of variable density has been investigated taking into account the finiteness of the ion Larmor radius. The perturbations propagating along the ambient magnetic field are considered. It is established that, in general,n ² is necessarily real, wheren is the growth rate of disturbance, thus ruling out the possibility of overstability or damped oscillations. The solution is shown to be characterized by a variational principle, which provides the basis for obtaining an approximate solution of the problem. Two density distributions are considered: (i) a continuously stratified plasma layer and (ii) two semi-infinitely extending plasmas of constant densities separated by a horizontal interface. In both cases it has been shown that for the said disturbances the stability criterion remains unaffected by the inclusion of finite Larmor radius effects, though the amplified motion is strongly inhibited due to their inclusion.