Drift Instability in the Presence of Nonuniform Radial Electric Fields

Abstract

An equation describing the drift instability in a collisionless low-β plasma, in the presence of a nonuniform radial electric field is derived from guiding center equations for the ions and the drift kinetic equation for the electrons. Numerical solutions to this equation indicate that the influence of a nonuniform radial electric field on the drift instability may be determined from the manner in which this field modifies the macroscopic electron rotation profile.