Kinetic temperature gradient driven modes in inhomogeneous plasmas

Abstract

New unstable temperature gradient driven modes in an inhomogeneous plasma are identified. These modes represent transient $\ddot{I}‰\simeq k_{\Vert }{v}_{th}^{(e,i)}$ sound oscillations in magnetized plasma that are kinetically destabilized via Landau interactions. Electron and ion sound branches are unstable for large values of the Larmor radius parameter respectively. The instability occurs due to a specific plasma response that significantly deviates from Boltzmann distribution in the region $k_{\perp }\ddot{I}{}_{i,e}\gg 1$ . Pacs: 52.35 Kt, 52.35 Qz

10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters