Instability of a gravitating partially-ionized plasma

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.