Stability of an anisotropic relativistic plasma in a magnetic field
Abstract
The collisionless relativistic Boltzmann equation is used to investigate the stability of a large-scale two-component plasma containing numerically small anisotropic relativistic populations. Although most permitted waves are stable, Alfvén type waves are found to be unstable whenever the anisotropy exceeds O(v A/c). Growth times are estimated as days for supernova remnants and millennia for cosmic ray protons.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Plasma Physics
- Pub Date:
- June 1968
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S0022377800003718
- Bibcode:
- 1968JPlPh...2..157S