The stability of inner cometo-sheath with large Larmor radius effects (Q1318299)

An investigation of the linear stability of the cometary inner sheath, the boundary layer surrounding the ionopause which separates the outflowing unmagnetized plasma from an inflowing magnetized plasma, has been carried out by taking into account the large Larmor radius effects. The structure of the boundary layer is determined by the balance between an outward ion-neutral collisional drag force and an inward magnetic stress. The eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions are obtained numerically by treating the cometary ionosphere as a layer of finite thickness, bounded by the contact surface, i.e., the diamagnetic cavity boundary. Certain limiting cases of the wave equations are also discussed.