The gravitational instability of a finitely conducting rotating plasma through a porous medium

The magneto-gravitational instability of an infinite homogeneous, finitely conducting, viscous rotating plasma through porous medium is investigated in view of its relevance to certain stellar atmospheres. The dispersion relation has been obtained from the relevant linearized perturbation equations of the problem and it has been discussed in the case of rotation parallel and perpendicular to the direction of magnetic field separately. The longitudinal and transverse modes of wave propagation are discussed in each case of rotation. It is found that the combined effect of viscosity, finite conductivity, rotation and the medium porosity does not essentially change the Jeans' criterion of gravitational instability. It is also shown that for the propagation transverse to the direction of magnetic field, the finite conductivity destabilizes the wave number band which is stable in the limit of infinite conductivity when the medium is considered inviscid.