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Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a viscous compressible plasma of variable density

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Abstract

A study has been made of the problem of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a hydromagnetic plasma of varying density to investigate the influence of the simultaneous presence of the effects of compressibility and viscosity. The solution is shown to be characterized by a variational principle. Based on the variational principle proper solutions have been obtained for a semi-infinite plasma, in which the density has a one-dimensional gradient along the direction of a uniform vertical magnetic field, confined between two planes. Both the viscosity and magnetic field are found to have a stabilizing influence. The effect of compressibility is found to be destabilizing.

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  1. Dept. of Mathematics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Jodhpur, Jodhpur, India

    P. K. Bhatia

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  1. P. K. Bhatia
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Bhatia, P.K. Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a viscous compressible plasma of variable density. Astrophys Space Sci 26, 319–325 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00645614

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00645614

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