Tearing instability in plasma configurations.

The paper examines the development of the tearing mode of instability in a plasma with a diffuse neutral sheet in the presence of a small, but finite magnetic field, one of the components of which is normal to the neutral sheet. The effect of this component on electron orbits near the neutral sheet leads to the stabilization of the electron tearing mode at small amplitudes of the normal field. The development of an ion tearing mode is possible only in a so-called 'slit' - a restricted interval of values of the normal component, at which the effect of the normal field on ion orbits can be neglected and the stabilizing contribution to plasma permittivity of magnetized electrons is small.