Criteria for shear flow instability in the magnetopause boundary layer region (Q1312121)

The instability of compressible shear flows is studied in the planar magnetopause boundary layer region. A necessary criterion for instability near the Alfvén resonance is obtained. Sufficient criterion for instability is derived from the solution of a six-degree polynomial equation for the cases of constant and antisymmetric velocity profiles when there is no Alfvén resonance. Both the criteria are obtained analytically for the first time. The necessary criterion generalizes the inflexion point theorem and Rayleigh's criterion well-known in the hydrodynamics to magnetohydrodynamic case for incompressible plasma provided both the Alfvén surfaces lie in the boundary layer. Here the Alfvén resonant surfaces play a similar role as the boundary walls in hydrodynamics. A semi-hyperbola theorem for the unstable situation is derived which represents the domain of Doppler shifted real frequency and imaginary frequency. From the sufficient criterion for instability it is shown that a compressible plasma flow should be more sheared in order to become unstable. The growth rate for instability is obtained.