Plasma-magnetospheric interaction in X-ray sources - an analysis of the linear Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
Abstract
The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is analyzed for the case of a magnetized plasma streaming over a vacuum magnetic field with arbitrary orientation in the plane parallel to the interface. It is shown that the presence of even a very weak magnetic field within the plasma may suppress the instability, suggesting that turbulent mixing of plasma into the magnetosphere around an accreting X-ray source is probably not initiated solely through the growth of Kelvin-Helmholtz modes.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- September 1982
- Bibcode:
- 1982A&A...113..113W
- Keywords:
-
- Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability;
- Neutron Stars;
- Plasma Interactions;
- Stellar Magnetic Fields;
- Stellar Magnetospheres;
- X Ray Sources;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Stability;
- Plasma Turbulence;
- Stellar Atmospheres;
- Stellar Mass Accretion;
- Stellar Models;
- Astrophysics