Combined Rayleigh and Kelvin Instability of a Hall Plasma with a Vertical Magnetic Field

Abstract

The problem of Rayleigh–Taylor and Kelvin–Helmholtz instability for an electrically conducting incompressible Hall plasma supported by a nonconducting and uniformly streaming compressible gas is investigated with an ambient vertical magnetic field. The resistivity and the finite ion Larmor frequency are both found to have a destabilizing effect as also the streaming speed and the compressibility of the gaseous medium.